


Code M.A.X.E

by oddfrog27



Category: Code Lyoko
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/F, F/M, M/M, Male Slash, Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:20:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22037698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oddfrog27/pseuds/oddfrog27
Summary: Splintered off from X.A.N.A's old programming, its daughter program, M.A.X.E, becomes the newest threat to France and the Earth. Somehow, Odd managed to adopt a new litter of Lyoko Warriors, and he became their...mentor?? Also, how did he end up the only one who could deactivate the towers now? Wasn't he too old for this teenage superhero stuff? Whelp, better take the L and save the world!"It's nice to feel needed.""Your old team needed you," Naomi assured."No...they didn't. But listen, I don't want any of you to feel like I felt. You're all important to this mission. Strength in numbers and in friends.""Don't you think your old team felt that way about you?""If they needed me around we wouldn't have lost contact. They'd be here, with us, right now, fighting the good fight."
Relationships: Odd Della Robbia/William Dunbar
Comments: 17
Kudos: 29





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya,  
> Not so new to the site, new to posting, not at all new to writing. Still figuring out the tags and stuff, honestly I'll work on them as needed.  
> I'm not usually big on OC's but I have had a handful of these guys around since the ole' days and figured it was time to give them room to breathe.  
> So basically the premise here is, if anyone had to lead a new team of Lyoko Warriors it would have been Odd. Everyone else probably would have burnt the factory down before heading to Lyoko again. Having Odd lead a new team makes me feel better about there being a new team.  
> And yes, Odd's new team would totally be his litter because he was a Giant. Purple. Cat.  
> More pairings and characters to come as the story progresses!

At the sight of a decrepit looking, familiar factory, a young teen ruffled his raven locks and nervously brushed grime from the tunnels off his figure, before tightly gripping the fraying rope before him. He gave a few experimental tugs, deeming the rope safe enough for the time being. Then he, along with his two companions, another teen his age with rich caramel colored hair, and another young lad, scaled down the ropes. Landing with a slight thud, he glanced up as one friend landed beside him while the other struggled a bit more before landing with a thump on his hands and knees.   


The young lad grimaced while his friends snickered a bit at his misfortune.  


“Oh ha ha.” he stood stiffly, wiping down his hands and knees.   


Still smirking a bit, the girl turned to her older friend, trying to avoid glancing around at her surroundings.   


“Are you sure you want to look for spare parts here?” she whispered hesitantly. Her eyes darted around, seemingly waiting for something, anything to jump out at them.   
Their footsteps echoed off the walls of the abandoned factory they’d discovered while on the hunt for spare robotics, the emptiness and obvious decay of the building casting an eerie feeling over the place. 

“Yeah Leo. It looks like this factory’s been abandoned for a while,” the other young teen noted, swiping a finger over some nearby crates, grimacing at the grime now covering the digit. He looked around in disgust before ultimately deciding to wipe it down on his jeans. “Ugh, yuck. These were designer.”  


His nearest companion rolled her eyes. 

“Oh please, you’ve obviously got the finances to replace them. Your designer jeans are always covered in various oils and dirt.”  


Before he could retort his other companion pointedly cut in.

“If we want to be able to complete our robot in time we need more parts. This competition is a kadic tradition and I for one do not want to miss it. I’m positive we can find something useful here. We don’t exactly have the spare change to afford anything more advanced.” 

“Well Jurek does.” the girl added with a grumble but sighed, and moving forward, began to rummage around in the piles of junk. Jurek didn’t point out that she did as well considering the tense nature of her relationship with her parents.

“I should have stayed behind with Arubia,” the other boy sighed as well before moving towards his friends to help them search. 

The trio startled at the sudden _bang, bang, bang_ that appeared to be coming from the elevator shaft off to their right. Then, with a groan and a few creaks and pops, the pulley system activated, lifting the elevator to the level the trio stood on. The trio stood stock still, faces paling.

“Do you hear that?” the multi-color haired boy asked, voice a choked whisper. 

“Forget that! Do you see that?” The girl pointed, watching with wide, surprised eyes as the elevator appeared. “Who made that happen.” 

“Quick! Hide. Someone might be coming out.” The three scurried behind a stack of crates watching the elevator wearily. But when it opened, and no one stepped out, the three exchanged nervous looks.

“W-what’s going on?” the girls voice shook.

Instinctively, she grabbed hold of the nearest boy, who took hold of her with equal force. After another few minutes with no movement detected, Leo stood and gaped at the elevator. 

“Fascinating! To think anything in this rundown facility would be operable-,”

“Fascinating! Fascinating! Try haunted,” the girl hissed. 

Leo looked back at his friends, eyebrows raising as they continued to cling to one another. 

His staring caused the two to become aware of their position, the girl quickly pulling her hands from the other boy’s and shoving him back slightly. 

“Gosh Jurek, keep your hands to yourself!” she whisper-yelled.

Jurek held his hands up in confusion and slight indignation. 

“What? You grabbed me!” 

“Oh yeah, I’m sure that’ll hold up real well against-,”

“Guys! Quit it!” Leo hissed.

“What are you doing?” the girl squeaked, watching Leo approaching the creaking elevator. It was still making worrying noises, settling after sudden and abrupt usage. 

“Seeing where it leads,” Leo answered.

“Are you crazy!” Jurek and the girl exclaimed together before covering the others mouth and looking around wildly. 

“Nothing ventured nothing gained. Besides, I’m sure we could find useful mechanisms for our autonomous friend,” he marched forward determinedly, shoulders almost touching his ears, arms bent and marching him forward exaggeratedly.

“He looks ridiculous,” the girl deadpanned. 

“Yeah, but since when is he the brave one and you chicken?”

“I am not chicken!” the girl glared, prompting Jurek to dart forward after Leo.

“Hey, bud, wait up.” 

“Oh, I _know_ I am going to regret this,” the girl threw her hands up in exasperation before following her dumbass friends. 

She had a reputation to uphold as the tough member of the group, though she was also known for her cautious nature. This no nonsense girl didn’t put up with anyone's crap but for some reason these two loons seemed to be the exception. 

“C’mon Nicole!” Jurek yelled from his place in the elevator beside the slightly taller boy who was tinkering with the wiring, “the faster we get this over with the faster we can leave.”

“Almost got it!” Leo exclaimed excitedly.

Nicole trudged forward standing between the boys as the elevator doors whirled to life and closed firmly behind her. She glanced around the rusty looking contraption as Leo continued to fiddle with the buttons.

“This is how people get murdered. We are officially the victims of a horror movie, oh I can’t believe it,” she groaned. 

“There’s nobody here,” Jurek rationalized,“it’s abandoned.”

“Well you’re certainly singing a different tune.” 

“Fear. Fear plays tricks on the mind.” 

“Uh-huh. Or Arubia’s finally taught you to loosen up. I oughta thank that girlfriend of yours.”

“She’s not my girlfriend! I see being her roommate hasn’t had the same effect,” he drawled.

She shoved him, her usual glare in place. She nearly fell into him when the elevator gave another groan and shudder before beginning its descent.   
“Figured out the controls?” Jurek questioned, trying to reorient himself after the shove and then the initial jolt. 

Leo looked back at his friends, confusion and a slight bit of fear in his eyes.

“I regret to inform you that while I was attempting to rewire the controls I failed to locate the correct avenue before…”

“Before what?” Nicole yelled.

“It activated itself,” he answered grimly.

Jurek groaned while Nicole began muttering to herself.

“It’s moving on its own. Great, just great,” she tightly grabbed a rail, “what have you idiots gotten me into?”

Leo looked slightly apologetic but also intrigued about where the elevator might be taking them. Nicole was now wishing that _she_ had stayed behind. 

“If we die, my little brother better not touch my stuff,” Jurek growled.

“Really, that’s what your worried about right now. The priority is getting out of here alive so I say whatever’s on the other end of this door we rush it,” Nicole said firmly. 

They never got the chance to brace themselves unfortunately, as the elevator came to an abrupt halt, causing them all to stumble into one another. 

“Ah, ow, Imma need aspirin after all this,” she rubbed her head where she’d lightly hit it against the wall.

Electricity crackled off the door as it unlocked and then opened. Coughs rangout throughout the room as mist and steam from the outer room entered the elevator. Jurek swiped his hand in front of his face to clear the haze from his vision. Once he could open his eyes a little wider from where he was squinting them, he marvelled at the electronic cylinder rising from the floor. Once fully risen, a panel opened and a lever popped out. 

“Well that screams trap if I’ve ever seen it,” Nicole muttered breathlessly. 

Despite Nicole’s assessment of the room Leo was the first to step foot out of the elevator and into the dissipating fog. 

Nicole threw her hands up in exasperation.

“Leo! Leo, I think we should leave! This seems a little too advanced even for us.” 

Nicole was bright; she understood certain technological concepts and was able to translate Leo’s technobabble when he went on his rants. It came with the territory considering they’d known one another since they were toddlers. But she could not understand how such a marvel student could be such a dumbass in this very moment. Leo was their genius. He got good grades, he followed the rules, and apparently sometimes, like now, he got daring. Jurek was their mechanical expert. Both boys understood the ins and outs of machinery/auto mechanics but Leo preferred thinking up the blueprints and the theory behind their robotics while Jurek preferred to build them. 

Whatever it was that they’d discovered here today was something far beyond the trio. They’d come here for spare parts but they’d never be able to handle a haunted factory. 

“That’s just it Nicole.”

She grimaced. Leo’s voice was laced with wonder, full of intrigue that suggested they wouldn’t be leaving as quickly as she’d like. 

“No, no, Leopold, no!” she protested. She practically pulled her hair out when Jurek quickly followed their friend but eased when the other boy began to pull him back. 

“Nicole’s right. We’ve gone far enough and clearly there’s nothing salgevable here. Let’s just go.” 

Leo went to pull his arm from Jurek’s grasp but Jurek tightened his grip and stared his friend down. Leo cringed away from that stony look. Jurek clearly wasn’t messing around anymore and he agreed with their female friend that they should leave. As the groups protector, Jurek took the safety of his friends very seriously. Nicole and Leo might have known each other longer but that didn’t make Jurek any less their friend nor did it make him any less protective of them. 

“Let’s go,” he said seriously.

Leo nodded, shocked at Jurek’s fierceness. He closed his mouth and followed his friends lead. Jurek, noting Leo’s compliance, let go of the brainiac and headed for the elevator. 

Both boys were surprised however when the doors closed rather suddenly, trapping Nicole inside. 

“Hey! Guys!” she yelled, rushing forward to slam her fists on the door. The elevator began to ascend. 

“Great,” Jurek sighed.

He looked around the room, noting no other accessible way out. 

“Suppose we can learn to fly and jet up to the next floor through this hatchway up here?” he pointed up at a long narrow passage, far above their heads, that looked a bit like a deadly drop if they could even manage to reach it from their positions. Which they could not because they can’t fly.   
He looked behind him to gauge Leo’s reaction only to find the boy hovering by the device.

“Hey, Leo! What are you doing? That elevator just kidnapped Nicole! Don’t you think finding her is more important right now! Hello, earth to Leo.”

“Hmm,” the boy hummed distractedly, “Yeah, just a minute.”

“No, not just a minute. Now. Leo, Seriously?”

“I just...I have this feeling that this console here houses all the answers. Questions we’ve been asking ourselves since the elevator first started moving on its own. It’s a mainframe of some sort.”

“Fascinating. Can we go?”

“Aren’t you the least bit curious about what a sophisticated device such as this is doing housed in a rundown factory?” 

“Uh, no?”

Leo shot him a look.

“Ok, a little bit, but what I’m more curious about is where that elevator took Nicole. We should be looking for her. Or have you forgotten that our friend was just kidnapped by inanimate machinery.”

“Seeing as the elevator is operating on its own, I’d classify it as animated machinery. And it probably took her back up to the factory.” 

“I have to know for certain so if you want to stay here and analyze this computer thing, fine.” 

“And how exactly do you plan on splitting up without the use of the elevator?”

Jurek hadn’t really been thinking about ‘the how’ when he’d stormed over to the elevator bay but he kept slamming his fist against the button anyway. It’s not like he wanted to split up but the elevator had kind of made that choice for them. He didn’t want to choose between keeping an eye on Leo and finding Nicole, either, which is why he wished the stubborn fool would come with him. 

“Guys?” 

Jurek’s head snapped up, hearing the yell come from above. 

“Nicole? You’re alright! But where are you?”

“Uh, I’m not sure. The elevator seems to have taken me a few floors up so I tried to climb back down but I still can’t seem to reach the floor you guys are on. You’ll never believe what’s up here.” 

Jurek looked back to Leo who looked intrigued by what Nicole had to say. 

“I found a high-tech looking computer and the chair looks to be electronically operated as well but the whole rig seems to be deactivated. Same with these tall tube devices I’ve found on this level. I’m not even sure how to describe them. What is all this?” she wondered.

“We seem to have stumbled upon an electronic gold mine,”Jurek commented.

“And this must be the power source,” Leo noted.  
He reached out towards the handle, fingertips barely brushing it. 

“Leo, no!” Jurek yelled, darting forward in attempt to slap his friends hand away.

But it was too late. With a firm grasp Leo pulled the lever. A white light erupted from the mechanism engulfing the whole room. Leo and Jurek had to cover their eyes from the sheer intensity. 

Nicole, who had been inspecting one of metal canister looking devices, suddenly found herself trapped within one. 

“Hey, what-; why does this keep happening to me?”   
Before she knew it, she too was wrapped in intense light and a feeling of being tugged in all directions swarmed her. Her hair and clothes fluttered as a rush of wind and whirring buzzed around her, the machine booting up and activating. 

“Jurreeeekkk!” she screamed before the device began to settle and the doors opened, nothing but fogged steam emitting from inside the canister. The scanner was empty. 


	2. Chapter 1: On The Case

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back to Kadic once more, Odd cannot believe Naomi believes in Santa Claus more than Lyoko! Ok maybe this has nothing to do with that and everything to do with being a new teacher at Kadic.  
> As for Naomi...new school, new chances and...a mystery to solve? What kind of school is this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See Bottom Note

‘Trees. Building. Trees. More trees. Biker. Ooo he barely avoided running down that lady with the dog. Gosh this car ride is boring. That was the most interesting part of the last 40 minutes.’ a young, mildly bored, 13 year old brunette thought as she watched the scenery fly by.

Despite her thoughts, she wasn’t quite ready for the ride to end as the looming structure of Kadic Academy shadowed the taxi. 

‘Oh, here we go,’ she sighed, learning her elbow against the door’s armrest and placing her chin in her palm. It was as pretentious looking as it sounded. An academy! A bloody academy! Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to send her to this place?

“I can’t believe I left my friends for this.” 

Beside her, a blonde whose ridiculously pointed hairstyle was accented with purple tufts mid hairdo, shuffled over to gaze out the window. He leaned across his companion and smiled up at the familiar brown and beige stonework. Ah the memories!

“Hey now, no need to worry. You never know what secrets Kadic has hidden. The unexplainable happened everyday when I attended. Cause for some great adventures! You might even make friends,” he teased.   
While he was remembering the utterly catastrophic days of fighting X.A.N.A, all with a big dumb grin on his face, the tween beside him rolled her eyes. 

  
“Oh please, not those fictional stories again. I stopped believing in Lyoko when I was six.”

  
“So for half your life then? And all before you stopped believing in Santa Clause? Wow. I am offended. Lyoko is a much more believable place than the North Pole.” The cheesy grin never left the blondes face as he eyed his niece with amusement glittering in his eyes. Even as she continued to deny that Lyoko was real, Odd remembered it fondly.

Despite the terror it brought, risking their lives day in and day out, what Odd was most thankful for was how it brought his friends together. He never would have thought they’d lose contact (well he’s lost contact with everyone except Willam, who he had frequent meme wars with on twitter, and Aelita, who never stopped playing the dutiful role of favorite cousin) but once they graduated and moved on... 

  
Now here he was, at Kadic Academy, invited back for an assistant teaching position. 25, almost 26, and he was finally making headway in his career as an artist. He’d studied graphic design, videography, art history, painting, and music production, among others, and it had finally lead him to this moment. And not to toot his own horn or anything, but he crushed his student teaching gig, certifying him to be able to teach all things art and creativity to the young minds of Kadic Academy. 

  
It would surprise some that he’d chosen this path, to be a teacher, an influencer, but he’d known in his heart that this felt right. He’d always had a special way of handling Milly and Tamia’s problems. They looked up to him. Then he’d become the class rep, a position which no one suspected he’d take seriously, but he’d met that challenge and came out stronger. After that, in his final two years at Kadic, he’d decided to become a peer guide to the younger students, helping them adjust to life at the boarding school, where the work grew rougher as time advanced, and often, obviously, the older kids were bigger; scarier even. Moving up to this higher level of education could be a terrifying new experience for the young kids and Odd found he enjoyed spending time solving their problems, giving advice, and getting the opportunity to be the big brother some of them needed. As the youngest in his family, he’d never gotten to be the nurturer, the older sibling someone could count on. 

  
Now, it all boiled down to this moment. He had a lot to thank his old art teacher for in getting here, as well as a surprisingly good friend he had kept in constant contact with; Elisabeth Delmas. 

  
Hand placed firmly on his nieces lower back, supportively steadying her as he guided her through the gates of Kadic like he’d done for so many young students before her, the grin on his face never left. If he could take his present self through a return to the past trip to tell his younger self that one day he and Sissy would be thick as thieves...well his younger self might accuse him of being a polymorphic clone!

  
Sissy was here too, an assistant nurse, getting credit hours as she worked her way through nursing school. Considering Sissy’s previous record with schooling, terrible much like his own, no one would have expected her to pursue nursing. The turn around had happened when Odd and the others befriended her. Jeremy, and on occasion Alieta, offered to tutor them both, as well as Ulrich. Sissy tapped into a caring, more nurturing part of herself she’d always tried to bury deep down inside and decided she wanted to help others. 

Ulrich, before they had parted ways, hadn’t been all that surprised that she’d picked up a passion for nursing, privately recalling the incident where she’d attended to his broken arm when they’d been trapped in the elevator together. Though Sissy obviously had no memories of this event, it was still a trait ingrained in her somewhere, finally awoken. She began to take her schooling more seriously knowing she needed better grades to even be considered for nursing. Her hard work paid off. She had been offered the opportunity to do a work study straight out of Kadic. 

  
She deserved this and even better, they’d get to hang out in person more often. Odd wouldn’t have to worry too much about not having peers here, knowing many of the teachers that resided here were still much older than him. 

  
“Oh Uncle Odd, how did you get me into this?” Naomi whined.

  
Though she was upset by her current predicament she smirked a bit at Odd’s grimace at the use of his title. 

  
“Hey now, we are only like 13 years apart and I’m the fun uncle. As the fun uncle I reserve the right to have my title dropped. You call me Odd and I will respond when you do.”

  
Naomi rolled her eyes. 

  
“Besides, you’ll love it here. And, well, I promised your mom I’d keep an eye on you after what happened at your last school.” 

  
This time Naomi grimaced. Her mother felt it better she had a 24/7 monitor to keep watch over her at school then let her be left to her own devices back in Italy. 

  
“It was an accident,” she protested. 

  
“And it landed you here. With me,” he countered, “But is it really so bad? Remember me? The fun uncle?” his grin widened.

  
Naomi conceded that it could be worse and with a sigh hitched her bag higher on her shoulder. If Odd hadn’t been a teacher here her mother might have sent her to a reform school or something. Her uncles opportunity, his new start, turned into a fresh start for her as well. It was a life saver. 

  
“Come on. Right this way.”

  
|||||||||||

Naomi dumped her duffle on the floor before flopping back on her bed.

  
By the grace of the gods, Odd being a teacher here and Ms. Delmas his friend, Naomi was awarded a single room. No bunk mate. No instant friend. As she stared at the ceiling, thinking maybe having no roommate wasn’t all that good a thing, she sighed.

  
“This is going to be one dry year.”

|||||||||||

  
After having a day to settle in, Naomi shuffled into her science class with minutes to spare, nabbing the only seat left next to a tan, burgundy headed boy. He barely glanced over at her, focused so intently on his sketch as he was.

  
“Shouldn’t you be saving that for art class?” she whispered curiously.

  
He still didn’t glance up, busy switching from one shade of red colored pencil to the other. 

  
“When inspiration hits one must strike upon it,” he answered. 

  
“Okay,” she dragged out the y and watched as he intently continued to color. Managing to tear her eyes away from the intriguing artist to the front of the room, she watched as the teacher strode in and picked up a ruler, slapping the board with it to draw the attention of the class.

  
“Settle down, class, settle down!” 

  
Naomi could tell she wouldn’t get away with slacking in this class at the sound of the teacher’s no nonsense tone. 

  
“My name is Mrs. Hertz.”

  
Naomi blinked. 

  
“Oh wow! She still teaches here?” 

  
Namoi could remember all the horror stories Odd told her of his ‘favorite’ teacher Mrs. Hertz. 

  
“You know her? Aren’t you new?” 

  
She glanced to the side, noting the boy beside her was finally glancing her way.

  
“No, not personally. My Uncle used to go here. I’ve uh,” she snickered, “heard the stories.” 

  
Her desk mate joined in her mirth. 

  
“I bet they’re nothing compared to the actual experience,” he joked.

  
“Not her favorite student?” 

  
“Hardly.” 

  
They shared another light chuckle at his expense. 

  
“Rubin! Naomi! Pay attention!” 

  
They both jolted in their seats, spines straightening, eyes wide.

  
“Sorry Ma’am,” they both apologized. 

  
“Guess that saves us the trouble of introductions,” Rubin noted.

  
“Guess so.”

|||||||||||

Once the bell freed them of the torture that was class, Naomi popped down from her seat and grabbed her bag, intending to shuffle out with the rest of her quickly retreating classmates. Instead she hesitated by her stool. Though there interaction had been short she was sure that Rubin wouldn’t be a bad friend to have.

Then again, they barely knew each other. Would their casual camaraderie in class be enough to bloom a friendship? She shrugged to herself. She knew loads of friendships that had started on less.

  
After having gathered his art supplies Rubin turned and noticed Naomi lost in thought. He grinned when she visibly shrugged without having verbally said anything. 

  
“Looking for company?” he questioned.

  
She blushed.

  
“That obvious?” without waiting for his answer she continued on, “Uh, yeah, you know, s’like you said. I’m new,” she ramled. 

  
“What’s your next class?” 

“Uhhhh,” she glanced at her schedule, “History.”

  
“With Devoe? You’re in luck. I have that next too.” 

  
She grinned in relief.

  
They quickly raced to said class realizing they’d been standing around too long and the next bell was sure to ring any minute. 

  
As they settled into their seats Rubin glanced over at the brunette.

  
“Not to sound weird but can I paint you? Well draw first I guess. You have a lovely smile and I’d love to capture it. Like I said, when that inspiration strikes-,” he cut himself off knowing she’d understand the rest.

  
Her grin never faltered but her cheeks heated up.

  
“That is totally weird.” 

  
“Sorry.” 

He really didn’t sound sorry. Her blush deepened. 

  
“Uh, yeah, sure, I mean, that’s cool, sure, go ahead.” 

  
Damn, why was she rambling so much?

  
“But history first?” 

  
She grimaced.

  
“If we must.” 

  
|||||||||||

  
“After you M’lady.” Rubin gestured for the brunette to lead the way to the courtyard.

  
They had a free period before lunch and Rubin decided to set up his canvas so he could start on his newest inspiration ASAP. Naomi was perched on a bench under a tree, a favorite spot of his, and one Naomi recognized from pictures of her uncle and his friends.

  
Naomi was observing the campus and the meandering students. She noticed a few lost looking students, kids younger than her, 6th graders probably. Several cliques were hanging about, laughing, or quietly studying. A loner kid reading a book under the shade of a tree. Then she glanced more directly to the side of her and noticed a MISSING poster posted to a tree nearby. Having a curious nature she hopped up to inspect it. 

  
A carmel haired brunette with a healthy tan stared back at her. She was wearing a green cardigan and an olive green under shirt. The mysterious girl was sporting a reluctant smile, clearly appeasing whoever was behind the camera. 

“Well this looks out of place on such a secure campus. Who was she?” 

  
Rubin glanced up from his paints and eyed the photo. 

  
“Nicole. She went missing about two weeks ago. My sister, her roommate, has been searching frantically for her ever since. She took that photo you know.”

  
“Your sisters a photographer?” 

  
And maybe that wasn’t the right question to ask after having learnt about a missing girl. A student at her school no less. Hadn’t her mother and uncle promised she’d be safe here? 

  
“We’re artsy kids. I paint and draw, she photographs and writes. Wants to be a journalist who provides her own candids.” 

  
“What do they think happened to the girl?” 

  
“Well,” he began as he started to fiddle with his canvas again, “they’re claiming runaway though some of the kids have an even crazier conspiracy. Drowning. Though where she’d drown here is a little unclear. Something about some water under an old bridge, I dunno. The two kids who were with her when she vanished have given their statement but…” 

  
She glanced back at him curiously from the photo she’d been studying at the sound of his hesitation. 

  
“But what?”

  
“Their story sounds crazy, impossible even. The cops don’t believe them, her parents are concerned and angered by their “fictional tale”, and the kids around here keep coming up with more and more ridiculous conclusions about what really happened that night.” 

  
“So, why are they crazy?”

  
“Cops are citing it was trauma. Said they made up some unbelievable story to cope with what they witnessed. The only conclusion the police could make out for sure was that she was nabbed.”

  
“By who?” 

  
“Dunno. The running theory had been someone who was stalking the abandoned factory across the way. It’s off limits. They’re lucky to not have been expelled. I guess they’re lucky to still be here,” he sighed, “anyway, since the cops couldn’t find any evidence of a perpetrator they changed their theory to runaway. Which brings us full circle.” 

  
Naomi looked off to the side.

  
“Not quite. What’s their story?” 

  
“Why does that matter?” 

  
She gave him an unimpressed look.

  
“Because it does.”

  
Rubin eyed her oddly. When Naomi refused to budge he sighed again and began to twirl his paintbrush between his fingers, biting his lip as he thought over his next words. 

  
“They claim the factory basically came to life or something. The elevator began to move on its own, forced them downstairs, and some weird babbling about a, a supercomputer?”

  
One perfectly shaped eyebrow rose, eyes squinting in confusion. Rubin shrugged in response.

  
“It’s...I don’t have all the details. My sisters friends refuse to talk about it now. Anyway, when the cops went to check the place out they couldn’t even get the elevator to spark. They discredited the story and now Nicole’s picture is all over town.”

  
“The guys involved were your sisters friends too?” 

  
“Yup, all three of them were, uh, are. Jurek is such a serious guy too. Honestly, I can’t believe he’d ever come up with such a ridiculous story, coping method or no. But his friend, the other guy involved, it’s not like him to tell stories either.”   
“Then don’t you think it’s worth finding out if something else is going on? If they’re not liars then they must not be lying.”

  
“What are you implying? The story’s crazy right? No way that could have happened!”

  
“There’s only one way to find out” she smirked.

  
Rubin blinked in confusion then felt a light sweat break out over his skin. He gulped.

  
“You’re not seriously suggesting-,”

  
|||||||||||

  
“This is insane. I am _not_ going in there. Nope, not gonna happen.”

  
“Don’t be such a scaredy cat.”

  
“Wishing I was at home cuddling with my cat. At least they have a self preservation instinct.” 

  
Both were glancing up at the dark, drab exterior of the factory before them, staring into the recesses of the pitch black interior. It was easy to tell why the factory was abandoned and condemned by its decrepit appearance. Most of the windows had been blown out, were cracked, and had lost any shine long ago. Mold and mildew permeated the air and there was a mossy substance creeping up the sides of the factory. 

  
“We have to go in. Maybe whoever has that girl is holding her down there and we could be the only people who have a chance of saving her.”

  
“What do you think this is, a superhero movie? And why do you care?” Rubin asks exasperatingly, “You don’t even know her. Also, how can we possibly be the only people who have a chance of saving some girl from Kadic knows what?”

  
“C’mon Rue. We can solve this mystery. I know we can.”

  
He blinked in surprise at the nickname but didn’t let it deter him in the face of the crazy she was spewing. He’d mull over it more in great detail after they were far, far away from this mess.

  
“Ok great, we’re not superheroes, apparently you think we’re mystery incorporated! I bet if we go down there we get hogtied and captured ourselves!” 

  
“Down we go!” Naomi grabbed hold of the rope before her and slid down, wobbling slightly as she landed on the concrete with a clack.

  
“Are you insane! Oi, why am I even asking, you have to be after what you just did.” 

  
He grabbed the rope before looking up at the factory ceiling and praying to a force he wasn’t quite sure he believed in.

  
“I know mom said I needed to make more friends but somehow I don’t think what she meant was to follow some girl I just met to my doom.”

  
“Are you coming or what? Where’s your sense of adventure?” she yelled up at him, grinning brightly. 

  
Sighing dramatically, he slid down the rope after his new, crazy friend. 

  
“If we survive this-,”

  
“We’ll have formed the bond of a lifetime. No going back now bud!” she slapped him playfully on the shoulder. After she turned away he grabbed his arm and winced. Who was this girl?

  
“Hey Rue! This the elevator?” she pointed to a big, hulking elevator shaft with no actual elevator cabin in sight. 

  
“Yeah, but like I said, the cops couldn’t get it working. No elevator, no story ya know? Made her friends look crazy. Whatever’s down there, there’s no way of getting to it.”

  
“No way that they bothered looking for. We however, are here to solve a mystery!” Looking as far as she could see in the dim lighting, down dreary halls, and past rusted beams, Naomi hummed. “And there must be a staircase around here somewhere. At least a ladder maybe?”

  
“You want to wander through the creepy, abandoned factory, where a girl was possibly kidnapped, maybe even murdered, in order to find another way down?” 

  
Naomi had started walking further back into the factory but turned and shot her signature bright grin at him. He realized in that moment that he would never even get to finish his painting of that smile before he died. She threw her hands up in a ‘why not’ gesture. 

  
“Yeah, don’t you?”

  
He shook his head furiously. 

  
“Oh stop being so dramatic. You’re an artist not a drama kid!”

  
Rubin bit his lip, looked at the elevator, and then at the girls retreating back. 

  
“Alright! But I’ll have you know that I _am_ in drama club and I am quite the actor!” 

  
“I can tell drama queen!” she teased. 

  
He loathed to admit he was intrigued by the situation, that he really did want to know the truth; the truth behind this quirky girl he was following and behind what happened to his sister’s roommate. 

  
Before either could travel too far, a whirring sound echoed from the shaft and throughout the factory. 

  
“Do you...hear that?” Gods above did Rubin hope she didn’t hear that.

  
“Yeah, It-It’s getting louder.” 

  
The whirring began to sound a little deafening and a mechanical creaking began to follow the sound of the running belts. 

  
“I think the elevator is rising,” Naomi breathed in disbelief. 

  
“Oh you have got to be kidding me,” Nathaniel gulped, “This place really is haunted.” 

  
“Haunted?” Naomi whisper-shrieked. 

  
“Well, that’s what some of the students claimed.”

  
“Well you might have mentioned that before!” 

  
“I didn’t believe them! Ghosts aren’t real! That’s just-,”

  
“If you say crazy one more time-,” 

  
She slapped her hand over his mouth and pulled him down behind some crates as they observed the rising elevator. What surprised them both the most was what came out of the elevator. Rubin’s eyes narrowed as two boys, one with short dark hair and another with longer multi-colored locks, exited the elevator, whispering hurriedly among themselves. 

  
“Humans? Well, I suppose that makes sense. Why would it be ghosts. Phew.” Naomi’s disbelief and relief at the sight of the two boys echoed Rubin’s own feelings. He also felt rising ire, however. 

  
“They’re the two boys from my story. The one’s the cops didn’t believe.”   
“So, what, this is all a hoax?” 

  
“Looks like, which is odd. Never took either for practical jokesters. More my speed.”

  
“Mine too.” How could it not be with the prank wars her mother, aunts, and uncle participated in over the years. Well, her mother kind of grew out of it but Naomi was more like her uncle anyway. 

  
“I’m gonna kill em. This joke is so not funny.” 

  
“I’ll help. Detectives Nao and Rue on the case!”

  
They rushed out from behind the crates and marched over in hopes of blindsiding the boys before they could escape. Luckily, they hadn’t been noticed. That is, until Rubin accidentally walked himself into some other crates which he was promptly bounced off of. Naomi winced.

  
The two stopped their conversing, heads whipping over to the commotion. Before they could utter words Naomi went in for the kill.

  
“Well, well. Looks like we’ve solved the case! Everyone’s gonna love the conclusion to this mystery. Three junior high students, attending the prestigious Kadic Academy, create big fat hoax.” She waved her hands to emphasize her highlighting the title across the open air.”

  
The boys look stunned, though the colorful haired one still managed to utter a lame response.

  
“Technically we’re in the 9th grade now.” School had just begun, with the girl having gone missing over the course of a work-study summer program the three had been attending before the official school year started. 

  
Rubin grit his teeth, rushing forward to grip Jurek’s collar in his fist.

  
“Do you think this is some type of joke Jurek? My sister, Nikki’s parents, hell the whole school, are worried _sick_ about her!” 

  
“Get off me man!” Jurek slapped Rue’s hands away.

  
“Where is she?” he hissed.

  
“We don’t know!” Jurek growled back.

  
While those two got lost in their angry stare down, Naomi turned to the remaining boy and eyed him up.

  
“Where is she?”

  
He sighed. 

  
“You wouldn’t believe us. No one believes us.” 

  
“Try me.” 

  
The boy waved his hand in front of Jurek causing him to back down. He gestured to the elevator. 

  
“I’ll have to show you.”

  
Naomi and Rubin eyed the elevator skeptically.

  
“You wanted an adventure,” Rubin noted, “Nao and Rue on the case you said?” He started off after Jurek, the two acting like they hadn’t been moments away from a brawl. The other boy, who introduced himself as Leo, waited for her to enter before following the lot of them in. 

  
“What am I doing,” Naomi breathed, “She’s not dead right? Please tell me you aren’t leading us to a corpse,” she begged. Because why the hell did they so easily decide to follow these two?

  
“Technically we can’t find her physical body at all,” Jurek reassured.

  
“Technically? Physical body? Ah jeez, we are dealing with ghosts,” Rubin fretted.  
“Technically,” Leo interjected, “what Jurek said isn’t correct; you know, about us not knowing where she is.”

  
“So where is she?”

  
“We aren’t sure.”

  
Rubin blinked.

  
“Isn’t that the same as we don’t know?”

  
“Not quite. We do know where she is, we just don’t know exactly _where_ she is. We’ve been speaking with her. Through this.” 

  
The elevator’s doors opened at that exact moment and the two unfamiliar with the area gaped in awe at the sight of the highly advanced supercomputer before them.

  
“We cannot seem to pinpoint where she’s speaking from. Far as I can tell, she’s inside the computer.” 

  
“We have just walked into the plot of a sci-fi movie,” Rue said to Naomi as he spun round and round, taking it all in.

  
They both stopped just before the screens of the computer, gazing at the programming and coding they couldn’t begin to understand. 

  
“Is that...a map?” Rue looked back at Leo questioningly. 

  
“Yes, just not of any surrounding area we would be familiar with. This, this is a space known as Lyoko.” 

  
“Lyoko? Where’s that? Japan?” 

  
“Lyoko?” Naomi whispered under her breath, feeling a tight coil in her stomach at the familiar name. Ok, was she going to stumble upon the north pole next? Her uncle’s stories couldn’t possibly be true!

  
“It appears to be virtual space,” Leo answered.

  
“Virtual? What, like she’s stuck in a video game? Like it’s jumanji?”   
“I suppose it could be thought of in that way.”

  
The computer suddenly made a noise, a blue loading bar appearing before a separate window screen popped up.

  
“Hello? Guys? What are you doing back so soon? I thought you were headed up for dinner.”

  
Rubin stumbled back, unintentionally dragging Naomi, who’d tightly gripped his arm, with him. 

  
Leo rushed forward, grabbing a headset and seating himself before the computer.

  
“Nicole? Hey, are you alright?”

  
“Still bored. Seriously though, I wasn’t expecting you back so soon.”

  
Jurek placed a hand on the back of Leo’s chair and leant forward, hoping Nicole would pick up on his voice through the mic.

  
“Yeah, we uh, ran into a little problem. Two little problems.”

  
“Problem? Oh great, what else could go wrong?”

  
Off to the side, the two newbies narrowed their eyes.

  
“Little? Just because they’re a year older than us doesn’t mean we’re little!”

  
“It’s a super advanced computer and it couldn't come with a bluetooth headset?”

  
Naomi smacked him lightly on the chest.

  
“I don’t think that’s the point! There’s a girl _stuck_ in a _computer_!” Naomi’s voice held a hint of awe. Shock and slight fear too, but mostly awe.

  
“Oh, yeah, right. I cannot believe this is happening,” he sounded breathless and even a little panicked. 

  
“I thought you were all in to this fantasy/sci-fi stuff?” 

  
“How would you know? We just met.” 

  
“You look the type.” 

  
He tried very hard to _not_ look offended by that, even if it was true.

  
Back at the computer, Leo was cautiously typing code into the computer, hoping to retrieve more data on this virtual world and get some answers on how to rescue his friend.

  
“So, what kind of problem are we dealing with? More roadblocks on how to get me off this world?” Nicole asked irritably.

  
Jurek looked over his shoulder at the two having a frantic, whispered conversation, wild gesticulations and everything. 

  
“We stumbled upon Arubia’s little brother Rubin and some new girl upstairs in the factory.”

  
“And you brought them down?”

  
“Rubin wasn’t really giving us much choice. We’ve known him since he was a twiggy little 5th grader, always following Arubia around and trying to hang with us, but I’ve never seen him lose his chill like that before.” 

  
“Arubia _is_ his sister and she’s never stopped trying to figure out what happened to you. Clearly, he wouldn't budge for his sister’s sake.”

  
“So now what? I mean, if you were going to bring in reinforcements why not Arubia? Why let Rubin in on the secret and not her? She’s our friend. Doesn’t she deserve to know the truth?”

  
“Yeah, maybe,” Jurek sighed. Arubia _did_ deserve to know. They just weren’t sure how she’d handle the truth. She’d always been the friend with the heightened emotions; very intune with her inner being, she’d always say.

  
Rubin stepped forward. 

  
“I can’t believe I’m even suggesting this-; if we can’t bring her out...can you put us in?” 

  
The group gaped at him in surprise.

  
“So we’ve moved on to the plot of the matrix?” Naomi asked him casually. 

  
“Maybe if more of us are working together on this from the inside, we can find a way out.”

  
“We’re not even sure how she got put there!” Jurek exploded, gripping the roots of his hair in frustration, “and you want to put us all in danger by going in? You and this new chick should just pretend this never happened. Pretend you never saw any of this, go home,” he sighed, despondent, “Nobody else needs to be put in danger.”

  
“Hey! I have a name!” Naomi butted in before Rubin could deliver an equally heated response, “And I also believe I’m here for a reason. So no, I won’t just go home.”

  
Neither boy said anything further nor did they back down from their intense staring contest. 

  
“Gosh, how do you guys even stand to be in the same room, you’re always fighting.”

  
“They weren’t always like this,” Leo offered up, “I mean sure, they’ve never been the best of friends, but I’ve found that ever since we discovered this factory our emotions appear to be heightened. We’re more easily prone to anger, judgement, lots of negative feelings really.”

  
“Are you saying we’re all acting unusual? I feel fine. You don’t seem all that angry either. More melancholy really.”

  
“Which is a negative emotion, I render. There must be something about you that feels off.”

  
“Well I’m not hungry,” she noted offhandedly, “and trust me, I have an appetite to rival my uncles,” She grinned fondly. She really was so much like him. With all the extra time they’d be spending together here at Kadic, her mom might not like the girl who comes home for a visit. Oh what sweet revenge that would be for shipping her off in the first place.

  
“Ok, I see your point. I just had a dark, vengeful thought, and it had no relation to my usual notorious pranking habits.”

  
“Anything else?”

  
“I’m acting more rational than impulsive?” 

  
Rubin snorted.

  
“You don’t call investigating an abandoned factory to uncover secrets about a missing student who you’ve never even met personally, impulsive?” He sassed. 

  
Instead of sassing him back she let it go, which again, was unusual for a gal like her. 

  
“He is not usually this sassy, that’s for sure.”

  
“How would you know! We’ve just met!”

  
“It’s true. He’s always been a bit of a lighthearted jokester. Less sass, more teasing,” Leo noted.

  
“And I am usually bouncing off the walls by now. Like I said, impulsive. I’m not usually good at this waiting around to take action stuff. I don’t wait for the explanation, I just go for it, no questions asked. So, what else if off about you?”

  
“Later. Right now, Nicole needs us.” 

  
“Us?” she questioned, eyebrows raised.

  
“All of us,” Leo answered with a sudden surge of confidence he usually could not place within himself. Perhaps not all of their unusual emotions were negativity based. “I will deduce a way to transport the three of you to this Lyoko, whatever the cost.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I read two headcannons somewhere that Odd a) went on to become the Kadic Art Teacher and b) that he totally would have been a good peer advisor because he had a surprisingly caring nature.


	3. Chapter 2: The Plunge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Wonder why I’m dressed up like a ninja anyway,”she uttered under her breath, not expecting a response.
> 
> She hadn’t been asking anyone in particular but Leo decided to throw his two cents in anyway. 
> 
> “Maybe the computer just reads into your own subconscious desires and projects them onto your digital incarnations.” 
> 
> “I don’t dream about freaky leather-clad ninjas!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately, despite this show being the entire making of my childhood I do not and will not ever own it. Sigh
> 
> Never thought I'd let the new job come between me and my writing but it has been quite exhausting. Add in Corona and well...doesn't matter now cause yay new chapter!

Chapter 2: The Plunge

‘Oof!’

Naomi groaned as she lifted herself off the floor from where she had fallen out of bed.  


Too tired to even contemplate moving just yet she had a stare down with the popcorn ceiling. Had last night really happened? There was no way she took a boy she barely knew down into an abandoned factory with the knowledge a girl had been ‘kidnapped’ in that very same space.   


‘Must have been some dream,’ she thought to herself.  


She glanced back at the clock, the solid white numbers seconds from hitting 6 am and setting off her alarm.   


“Ah,” she let out an annoyed groan, “I hate when I beat the buzzer.”   


Music began to blare from the clock, too loud for this time of morning, and she stretched herself up to reach so she could slam her hand down on top of it before flopping back onto the floor.  


“Lyoko,” she whispered to the air, once again trying to recall where she had heard or maybe read the name.  


A knock at her door startled her from her musings causing her to glare at it sluggishly. This floor had gotten so comfy, did she have to move? Who could be visiting her at freaking 6 AM!

Another insistent knock spurred her into action. She winced as she headed for the door. Ok, perhaps that landing hadn’t been so graceful. Her backside was starting to smart.   


She was surprised to find a sleep rumbled Rubin on the other side.  


“I have had the _worst_ night of sleep.”   


Ok, so she hadn’t dreamed up yesterday. She really had befriended the cute boy from class and was going on some insane adventure to a virtual world with the same cute boy. The same cute boy who was at her door in his pajamas...while she was in hers...crap.  


“Worried about our future adventure to Lyoko?” play it cool girl, maybe he won’t notice.  


“Leopold is smart, the smartest kid here in fact. It’s just...I did some thinking last night instead of sleeping hence my appearance,” he gestured at his own form, “are we really about to let him plunge us into some virtual world he knows nothing about? He doesn’t know how to return us to earth, he barely knows what this Lyoko place is, and he doesn’t know what kind of dangers might be hiding out there.”  


“Dangers? What makes you think it’s dangerous?”   


If she wasn’t still irritated from her abrupt early rising, she might have shirked under his gaze. Ok, right, just because it was a virtual land didn’t mean something didn’t live there. It could be something fiercely protective of it’s home. Something that would see them as intruders. All the more reason to get Nicole out of there before they had to find out what might be lurking on Lyoko.  


“It’s to help a friend Rue.”

“Who you don’t even know.”

“Last night Leo said he’d do whatever it took to save her. Now that we’ve kinda...forced our way into the situation how can we possibly ignore the fact that she needs help?”  


“That’s a lot of talk from a new girl who only just met this strange group of teens. You like to take risks or something? Thrill seeker? Do you always plunge yourself into danger like this?”  


She didn’t bother to answer his latter questions. She couldn’t talk about that. She wasn’t that girl anymore. Was she? Present situation notwithstanding.  


“True, but Leo and Jurek don’t have many other options. Can you imagine what would happen if we tried to involve the teachers in this? Or the principal? Let alone the cops? We’re in this now. If I can be helpful then I guess I’ll just have to dive right in and take that plunge.”  


Rubin scratched his bedhead, entirely baffled by her shining optimism at...god what hour was this?  


“But what if this is his evil mastermind plan? What if he’s the kidnapper?”  


Sure, neither of them seem to have gotten the best sleep last night but what the what? He’s so lucky he’s cute. 

Why does she keep thinking that?? 

‘Head off the cute boy, girl; trying to solve a crisis here!’  


“Don’t be ridiculous. Isn’t he your sister's friend?”   


“Oh, what, using your fellow classmates as pawns in a video game you might have created yourself but lied about the true origins of when the science convention happens to be right around the corner is that far fetched of an idea?” 

He was panting by the end of that long winded and quite frankly ridiculous notion he’d come up with. How much sleep had he lost?  


“Are you saying we’re about to become his video game characters for a science fair?”

“Yes!”  
Naomi barely managed to hold back her chortles but she could hardly get the words out as she laughed through them. What did they put in the water here at Kadic?

“Oh c-come on! What mo-movie did you stay up-up late last night watching?”  
“Oh shut up. I told you I didn’t get a lot of sleep.” 

“I’ll tell you what though; you were right earlier. I must be crazy to go into a virtual world after some girl I don’t even know. Let alone to trust that Leo won’t have our atoms scattered across the internet.”

They both paused.That wouldn’t happen, right?

“And I must be equally as crazy to be following _you_ AGAIN on another insane  
adventure. What possessed me to follow you the first time? Seriously, what was I thinking? Nicole and the others don’t even like me.”

“No?”

“Eh, not really. You saw Jurek when we tried offering our help. He didn’t want us there. And Nicole? She straight up asked why they’d brought me down instead of my sister? They’ve never been overtly mean or anything like that but I was always the baby brother who wanted to hang around his sisters' friends and they were ‘too cool’ for me.”   


Real original. What, was that the fourth movie plot she’d been involved in, in the last 24 hours? Rubin was hardly that much younger than the others. The both of them were only one grade under Leo, Jurek, and Nicole.

“Well, you have me now. Besides, this time they need us; they need _you._ Show them you’re not that punk kid anymore. You _are_ your own person and _you_ can show off your valor, your strength, and just how much you’ve grown. Go and be her knight in shining armor and show them what you’re made of,” she slapped at his arm and he winced from the force. Whoops.   


“I’d rather be yours,” he teased.  


“Not a chance,” she drawled, “I’ll save myself from the tower thank you very much,” though her words were pointed, her smile gave away that she was teasing him back.  


“You hardly know me and yet I feel like you’ve seen so much more of me than they’ve ever bothered to look at.”  


“You took a chance on me when I decided to drag us into this mess. The fact that you stuck by me through all that crazy, even when we finally got answers, _and_ that you were the first to suggest this rescue mission, has shown me who you are. We’re gonna be great friends,” Naomi beamed. Which might be the weirdest thing she’s said this entire conversation. Who was this bright, perky girl she was becoming? She’d never made friends so easily and the friends she’d had back in Italy were arguably bad influences. It’s how she'd ended up in the Kadic slammer tied to Uncle Odd. Maybe now wasn’t the time to think about that…

Naomi watched her new bestie scratch his adorably messy bed head in confusion but he couldn’t hide that slight smile from her. She refused to chance a glance at her own appearance knowing she must look atrocious. Why oh why couldn’t he save this conversation till after shower hour?  


“That’s uh...nice bed head you got there,” she teased.  


“Look who’s talking Cousin It.” 

Fair point. She has seen that same impenetrable wall of hair staring back at her before. Bless the people of the mirror world for they have seen some scary versions of her. 

Instead of responding she tried to blow some of it out of her face.   


“Sooo...see you in class?”  


“Yeah,” he chuckled, “we could both use some sprucing.”  


“Speak for yourself. I am gorgeous. Go shower, go on get out of here.”   


Rubin whirled around only to run straight into a taller, though only slightly, figure. He was bounced back slightly, blinking up in surprise.   


“Oh, Mr. Della-Robia? What are you doing here?”   


“Ah, well, if it isn’t my brightest pupil!” Odd beamed. Then his eyes narrowed, “What are you doing here? Isn't this the girls floor?” his eyebrows rose and his lips quirked slightly in amusement.   


Rubin’s face began to burn from the tip of his ears down to his neck. Naomi coughed to hide her giggle of amusement. She couldn’t let her uncle’s ego inflate or he’d start believing he was actually funny.  


“Oh no, nope, nothing like that happening here. Nope!” He waved his hands wildly in front of himself in a signal of protest.   


Odd’s grin continued to grow as Rubin continued to flush and sputter excuses. Naomi thought about jumping in to save his skin but she enjoyed watching Odd mess with people far too much. Her uncle had a clever wit about him and it was his devious side that kept Naomi safe from various bullies when she was younger. It kept her entertained too. She happened to pick up on that deviousness though and it might have, sort of, quite possibly been part of what landed her here. In France. With said uncle as her monitor. Dang, she was thinking about it again!

Finally Odd let loose and began to laugh at Rubin’s flustered self. He gave Rubin a light slap on the back and then patted his shoulder. 

“Relax. I’m messing with you.”

Rubin quickly deflated, finally taking a breath. Then he shot his teacher an equally suspicious look. 

“What are _you_ doing down here?” 

Odd let loose another laugh, slapping Rubin’s back once more, and knocking some of the wind out of him that time. 

“Making sure this one actually drags herself out of bed. I have been late to school loads of times before for sleeping in and trust me, the detention is never worth it,” he was still laughing though it tapered off slightly when he recalled a specific memory.

He’d stayed up all night playing video games, had Alieta lie for him so he could snooze, and got them both detentions. Then they fought about it on Lyoko and only made up because their friends were tired of their crap. Well, and because Jeremie helped them realize they were great friends. Family even. 

Thinking about her now, all of them really, and how long it’s been since they’ve talked, he grew a little melancholy. He knew they’d have to grow up at some point. That his friends were busy adulting or whatever. Still, he didn’t think they’d have drifted so far apart. How could you after saving the freaking world together! Who else was supposed to understand what you've been through? Friends like that didn’t drift apart.

Did they?

No, he knew the answer to that. He and his friends were traumatized, child soldiers. His friends wanted to forget their past. Forget Lyoko. Forget the war they fought to save Earth and wouldn’t even be recognized for. Apparently, in order to do that, that meant they wanted ( _needed_ ) to forget every part of their past. But, in order to leave the past behind did they have to abandon their friendship?

He knew why he couldn’t even bring himself to tell them he got a job here. At Kadic. It's where the supercomputer, Lyoko, and all the bad memories were. He feared that despite his success in life, digging up the past would only set off their collective trauma. Better to pretend nothing changed about his work life than bring up his newly acquired position. 

While Odd was a little lost in his memories, Rubin was looking back and forth between the two. He felt he was missing something here. Why would their teacher be checking up on one of his students like this?   


Naomi rolled her eyes and huffed, arms crossed. Not really the way she had planned for this introduction to go but now or never she guessed. She shot her uncle a weird look at his prolonged silence. What was up with him?  


“Oh, uh, what?” Rubin scratched at his bird's nest again, tired of trying to decrypt this puzzle.  


Odd blinked his eyes back into focus having been startled back to reality by Rubin’s question.   


“She’s my niece,” he explained.  


Rubin’s face continued to look puzzled. Still, he nodded along like he understood while trying to process things. Naomi noticed the exact moment it clicked. No physical light bulb but his face certainly brightened.  


“Ooooh, this is the uncle you keep mentioning? I dunno why I imagined a dude way older. I was picturing an actual mature adult. I should have figured it out from the physical abuse my body has suffered from both your hands this morning alone,” he teased.  


Odd laughed, not at all offended. He preferred being young and boisterous compared to old and crotchety. Especially in the eyes of his students.  


“Yeah, my eldest sister and I have quite a few years between us. That’s what gives me the power to be the fun uncle.”  


Naomi rolled her eyes. ‘Don’t smile and don’t feed his ego,’ she mentally noted to herself.  


“Why didn’t you say anything in class yesterday?” Rubin asked his new friend curiously.   


She rubbed her arm bashfully, glancing to the side. She still looked like a hot mess and was now under his direct scrutiny. Great.  


Odd slapped the back of his palm to his forehead dramatically in response to her silence. 

“So I wouldn’t die of embarrassment. I mean look at him right now. Seriously!” she whined. 

“Oh, I knew it! She’s embarrassed of me. Her own uncle!”

Rubin could hardly distinguish who had said what because they’d both been whining about it at the same time. Though Odd’s whine was more of a dramatic reenactment of an upset person. Yup, Rubin could definitely see the resemblance now despite their very different hair colors. He shot them both amused looks.

“I just, I don’t want the whole school to know. Your family being faculty? When has that ever done anyone any favors?”

“Yeah, that's fair, but Odd’s cool.” 

“But I’m fun!” This time both Odd and Rubin had spoken at the same time.

Naomi’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance. If they were so cool with each other maybe they should be uncle and nephew! Instead of verbalizing that protest she pointed a sharp finger at Rubin. 

“Don’t call him Odd just because he wants to pretend he’s young and cool,” then she made a shooing motion, “and both of you, please get out of my room so I can get ready for the day. Go on, get.” 

They’d wasted enough time standing around here all disorganized as is. At this rate they’d miss breakfast and Odd could not go that long without food. Neither could she actually. Her stomach seemed to be another thing she inherited from her uncle. That and being scrawny though he insisted he was svelte. 

Rubin followed after Odd but a mere moment later Odd poked his head back in.  
“For the record, I’m only 25 on the verge of 26! That does make me young and cool!”

She tossed a shirt at him. It so did not.

“Get!”  
__________________________XXX__________________________  
Rubin gaped, amazed at how much food Odd and Naomi could consume. The sheer load of food they had both piled onto their trays was...he didn’t even have words for it. He’d begun to wonder if they had organized an eating contest but forgotten to inform him.

“Girl, where do you put it all?” he asked in disbelief.

Naomi, at least, looked sheepish of her bad table manners. That did not stop her from continuing to scarf her food down like it was the last meal she’d ever have. Though, if Leo hadn’t figured a way off Lyoko yet, it very well might be. Why were they going through with this mission again?

As Odd moved on from his eggs to his banana, he eyed the two teens across from him. Neither teen had noticed how weirdly close they were sitting, or well, had been sitting until Naomi’s elbows began to fly all over the place as she ate like a starving animal. Still, it’d only been a few days and they were acting like they’d known each other their whole lives.

“So, how did you two become so chummy?”

“Well, we’ve been here for three days so far. You and mom wanted to give me an opportunity to make ‘appropriate, responsible, and reliable’ friends didn't you?”

She gave him a pointed stare which lost effectiveness points because of her mouth full of muffin. She was storing some in those cheeks for sure.

  
“Yeah, just didn’t think it would happen so quickly,” he muttered around a mouthful of his own muffin, “good for you kiddo.” 

She hid her smile in the rest of her muffin. 

Rubin elbowed her lightly, a teasing grin on his lips.

“Figures you’d be related to the coolest teacher here.” 

“You only think he’s cool because you’re both into art.”

“Well yeah.” 

“Well duh.” 

She rolled her eyes. Was she Odd’s ‘twin’ or was Rue?  


“So, you didn’t like the old teacher? Mr. Delphine was it?”  


Rubin wrinkled his nose, “He was dry. You understand my vision.”   


“He was your harshest critic eh?”  


“He was unbearable. I am a vision!” He added a little dramatic throw of the head, hair swishing across his cheek.   


Odd agreed, mouth again full of banana but that didn’t stop him from trying to jam down bacon right after it. As his wrist lifted to shove in the bacon he caught a glance at his watch.   


“Hmm, don’t you kiddies need to be heading off for Mrs. Hertz class now?”  


“Yes,” Naomi and Rubin stood to leave but there was one last thing Naomi needed to know before she left her uncle for the day, “but first...how did she react to seeing you again?” 

The look on her uncle’s face was priceless. It screamed a whole heck of mixed emotions at her and he started choking on his breakfast.

Naomi chortled, too busy laughing to finish cleaning up her mess.

Rubin sighed, already so fond of these goofballs. He left the uncle and niece to finish their goodbyes. He picked up both their trays and decided he’d finish his muffin on the way to class. This was going to be one interesting year.  
_________________________________________________________________  
Naomi startled as Leo dropped into a seat across from her and Rubin in the art room. She hadn’t remembered seeing him the past few days but she supposed she hadn’t been looking for him before. Hadn’t even met the guy until she’d stumbled upon his super secret sci-fi mystery. 

“You? In art?” she laughed.

  
“I’m afraid I have no choice but to take up an extracurricular activity.” 

“You mean an elective?” Rubin had barely glanced up from his painting as he followed along with their conversation.

“Well, yes, but the school counselor also thought it wise to buff up my applications with extracurriculars and I had to choose one so I’m also a member of the art club after school every Wednesday. “ 

Rubin gave him the side eye. For as long as his sister had been friends with Leo, he’d never had to hang with the other boy on his own. Technically they wouldn’t be alone, alone because of the other art club members but he’d hardly been with his sister’s friends without her by his side. This year was really shaping up to be something else. His sister's friends could barely stand to interact with him. What was going on here?

“You any good?” 

Leo’s silence said it all. 

Naomi returned her attention to her sketch, the trio working in silence. It didn’t last long before Leo couldn’t help but bring up Lyoko. He didn’t get far before Naomi interrupted. She and Rubin had been glancing at his-er...drawing from time to time and it was...something. She decided to take pity on the struggling artist. 

“Ya know, Lyoko is virtual. You ever thought about taking up graphic design? You’re obviously very good with computers; I bet virtual art is your calling.”

He appeared unamused. Though he would go on to think over her suggestion later, right now he considered their mission to Lyoko top priority.

“Sorry. Continue.” 

“We meet tonight, after lights out, and that’s when I’ll send the three of you in. There’s no guarantee-,” 

“Wait, tonight? Are you sure you’re ready to do this? Do we have an ‘escape from the digital world’ plan yet?” Now this topic of conversation had managed to get Rubin’s head out of his painting. Though whether it was because she’d made a Digimon reference, or he was considering his safety, she wasn’t sure. 

“I do believe I have the answers we seek. I’ve found this journal,” he held up a leather bound book, “It seems to hold all the codes and information on key factors regarding Lyoko, materialization, and lucky for us, dematerialization. And that’s not all. I just need to finish decoding it,” he flipped through it excitedly. 

“But you have the 'getting us out part down right?'” Rubin asked slowly.

Leo nodded distractedly. 

“There are also a plethora of notes, codes, and information on the terrain and so forth stored on the mainframe. It's a virtual environment with its own ecosystem. Some of the programming looks like it could use some tweaking, it is a rather old computer now, but when I finish hacking into everything I’ll be able to learn all I need to know about Lyoko.”

“That’s great. We, however,” Naomi waved between Rubin and herself, “would like to get in, get out, and forget we've ever considered jumping right into a virtual world with basically no plan.” 

“Simple in and out mission,” Rubin agreed.

“That’s it? You insisted on snooping out the factory, learning about our secret, going to Lyoko, and you don’t want to know more? This,” he swung the book around wildly, “holds all the answers. This virtual land is a fascinating discovery. Imagine the possibilities!”

“Ohhhhh no. This virtual land spells trouble,” Rubin waved his brush at Leo as he stated his opinion, “I’ll help you rescue Nicole for her sake, for her loved ones sake, and even my sister's sake. But after? I refuse to have to deal with any of the consequences we might be dredging up.” 

Leo leant forward, eyeing them seriously. 

“You two are a part of this now. If this was a monster movie, as you so eloquently put it yesterday, what makes you think _it_ would let you distance yourselves?” he sat back and began flipping through the book.

Naomi and Rubin blinked. It? Did he know something they didn’t?

"Did he just threaten us?" Rubin scrunched his face up like he caught a whiff of bad BO.

“Okay, creep-y,” she eyed Leo skeptically. 

“Yeah, not a great selling point. You didn’t even ask for our help. You kind of just demanded it!”

“Only because you stormed the factory and started demanding answers. If you had just stayed out of it we would have been fine. As I see it, we’re simply trading demands.”

“What is with you?” Rubin hissed. Leo was usually so sweet and adorably hard to ignore. Not that Rubin had noticed or anything. Though Leo hadn’t noticed the way the girls fawned over him either. Still, right now he was being kind of pushy. Rubin thought he could feel his own anger boiling to the surface more than usual.

Naomi snapped her fingers. She was having an ‘ah-ha’ moment. 

“We’re all supposedly acting strange right? I know we’ve just met but I’m betting you’re not usually this creepy, demanding, or forward.”

“Creepy? No. Demanding. Sometimes. Eager to send his friends to their doom? Now that must be the work of an evil entity,” Rubin answered. 

“Evil entity?” Leo asked, frown in place.

“It’s just as I’ve predicted. If this Lyoko place is like a video game, then there is always, always an evil foe to fight at the end of every level. But he,” 

“Or she!” Naomi added.

“Or she,” Rubin dragged out the e, “must have some minions we have to fight too.” 

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous,” Leo scoffed, “I am not an evil minion.”

Rubin held his hands up placatingly. 

“Hey, I’m just covering all my bases. I do not want to be caught unawares by anything. If we get attacked,” he pointed an accusing finger at Leo, “I’ll have your head. Same if we get trapped. Ya know what, if anything happens, I’ll kill you.” 

Leo closed the book and stood from his seat, the bell ringing a second later.

“I’ll see you tonight.” 

Rubin exchanged a look with Naomi before letting out a long suffering sigh. 

“We’re doomed.”

“Yup.”   
__________________________XXXX_________________________  
“Oooo wow, I’m having second thoughts,” Naomi squeaked, glancing up at the surrounding walls of the scanner. 

In a neighboring scanner, Rubin breathed deeply. 

“This is crazy. What are you doing here? This is literally insane. You know how this movie ends. Go home. Get some rest. Live a normal life,” he rambled to himself. 

Jurek appeared bored at first glance but inside he was feeling jittery. Finally they could rescue Nicole. Even if it meant taking Arubia’s kid brother and the new girl along with him. He’d never spent much time with Rubin but he hadn’t had much desire too either. Yet here they were, about to foray off into a virtual land together. 

“Ready?” Leo’s voice could be heard from the speakers above.

Three ‘no’s’ rang out through the scanner room but Leo pointedly ignored them. He too was nervous but he couldn’t show it. If they had any reason to suspect he might not know what he was doing (he did, he totally did), then they’d never get Nicole to safety. 

“Get ready for the big plunge. I’m beginning the process in 3, 2, 1.”

As the scanner doors closed around the three the nervous energy in the room was high. Or maybe that was the feeling of the rapid wind uptake? Naomi sputtered as her hair was flung up, flailing all around and into her mouth. She closed her eyes and tried to steady her nerves but she was feeling a little queasy. It was as though every part of her was being tugged and stretched and pulled apart all at the same time. 

“Transfer Naomi  
Transfer Rubin  
Transfer Jurek.”

They could hear the scanner whir to life, the buzzing, and tugging, and the eerie breeze causing them all to pray they landed safely wherever the heck they were going.

'This had better work.' Naomi prayed silently.

“Scanner Naomi  
Scanner Rubin  
Scanner Jurek.”

Though Leo had explained how the process would go they eagerly awaited his next command. They were nervous, sure, but a large chunk of those nerves stemmed from a sense of adventure. They were about to journey to a place few others had gone before. And if this worked out? They might have made a huge scientific discovery! No one at school was going to believe this.

“Virtualization!”

In a flash and hiss of steam, the three were gone. The scanners opened, their occupants materialized from this world, leaving Leo the sole occupant of the factory. 

Another flash and the three had this weird sensation of being stitched back together. Rubin had to wonder if this is how video game characters felt when they had to load up on screen before becoming playable characters. There was no doubt in his mind, this Lyoko place was one big virtual reality video game. A surreal way to VR. 

Then, there was a sense of falling followed by an even larger sense of pain. He jumped up, rubbing his butt as it ached from his lackluster landing. Beside him, Naomi lay sprawled on the ground, groaning as she sat up and rubbed her head. 

“Well, our landings could use some work,” she grumbled, “Where was the prep on that?” 

“Yeah, no one said we’d be able to experience pain here,” he noted, “I hope that’s not going to become a problem.” 

They began to analyze their surroundings, noting the tall trees that seemed to go up for miles and down past the minimal landscaping. 

“Where’s Jurek?” Naomi called to him.

Before he could panic, looking for his sister's companion, Jurek called out to them.

“Jurek,” he spoke his own name “could use a little help,” said boy grumbled from his position half stuck in the...ground??

“What happened to you,” Naomi chuckled hysterically. She looked half fascinated at his predicament, half horrified.

“I think I accidentally phased through the ground,” he noted sourly.

“Phased?” they echoed. 

That’s when Rubin took a minute to really look at the other two. Jurek’s hair had gone from its shaggy, streaked, style, to a multi-dyed updo, no traces of his natural brown locks in sight. His hair was curled up into a quiff, he wore what appeared to be a beige jacket though would later be revealed to be a trench coat, and a navy blue turtleneck. He’d always been as pale as a ghost but now Rubin would swear he’d really lost his color. His new slate grey, deep green hair coloring really washed him out. 

“Why do you look like someone from the 1920’s?” Naomi wondered.

"Someone who died in the 1920's," Rubin added with snark.

“Just help me out of the ground! Questions later!”

Naomi thrust her hand out to grasp his but accidentally threw what looked like a...throwing star...at him?

Jurek shrieked and in his panic, phased right before their eyes. The throwing star planted itself firmly in the tree behind him. Jurek however was no longer panicked about that as he seemed to be slipping further through the ground. 

“Help, help, help!” 

Naomi hesitated, not wanting to accidentally skewer her new acquaintance. Looks like it was up to him then. 

“Try solidifying!” 'Yeah, great advice Rue, that should save him,' he wanted to slap himself.

“Easy for you to say! I don’t know how to work these...these powers!” 

“If you don’t calm down,” Rubin spoke slowly and patiently, “you’re going to slip into whatever that is,” he pointed down to what they’d later come to know as the digital sea, “and it doesn’t look very inviting.” 

Though Jurek wanted to snap at Rubin, biting words held on the tip of his tongue, he saw the logic in what the boy was saying. He tried to breathe deeply, focusing on what being solid had felt like. He’d only known the feeling his whole life, he should be able to keep it together. 

“Try doing your hands only, so you can brace yourself on the land, and pull the rest of yourself out of the ground,” Naomi added helpfully. Or so she thought.

Jurek wanted to be irritated with them both, but right now he wanted out of the ground even more.

“And how do you suggest I stay above ground once I do?” he grit out.

“Solidify your feet?” she offered.

“Or learn to float,” Rubin quipped. He wasn’t unaware of the hostility Jurek was radiating. They’d never gotten along before, why start now? He was Arubia’s friend, not his.

Growing bored of focusing on Jurek while he struggled to stay grounded, Rubin turned his attention to Naomi. They’d been so distracted they hadn’t gotten a good opportunity to study themselves. He couldn’t just forget how she’d summoned a throwing star from nowhere and then hurled it across the field.

Her costume, if you could call it that, was made up of fishnets and leather. Her stomach, arms, neck, and legs were predominantly fishnets. Every area where the fishnets presided, but the stomach, had dark grey linings. Her stomach was bare mesh and he tried really hard not to focus on that detail. Her hair was up in a ponytail, a deep navy blue headband running across her forehead, matching her navy blue skirt. Then there was her crimson colored crop top and face mask which covered her nose and lower half of her face. All in all, she was definitely a virtual ninja.

Glancing at himself, he saw a hell of a lot of blue. In certain angles of light it looked almost like a blueberry/purple color. It had accents of yellow and was a little heavy but not uncomfortably so. He scratched at his neck, where chainmail sat, and looking at the shield on his arm, he could only assume he was some sort of knight. Reaching up to rub his hand through his hair, he was startled to feel some of it was buzzed?? The other half of his hair was more pronounced, shaggy and quite fluffy. 

He was pulled back to reality by Naomi’s shout of joy. It seemed Jurek had managed to separate himself from the forest floor. 

“Gosh, that was exhausting,” he huffed. He was panting and yet Rubin would swear he didn’t actually look to be breathing. It was a more a reflex than a necessity. 

“Jurek, I’ve always said you resembled a ghost, parlor and all, and you’re quite dead inside, I mean, you have such a dry personality…” the look on Jurek’s face said he should wrap his speech up, “but uh...I think you might actually be dead.” 

“Don’t be ridci-,”

“No, Rubin might be onto something. Not sure how it’s possible but you look more pale than usual. Plus, you phased through the floor, your outfit, is quite-er-ancient looking, and-,” 

Jurek held his hand up to silence her. 

“Ok, and what about you two? What are you supposed to be?”

Rubin held his arms out, leaning back on his heels and throwing a smirk at Jurek, “I thought it was fairly obvious.” 

For the first time, Naomi took a chance to analyze her attire. She hadn’t thought to do so before with all that had happened so far. 

“A ninja? Well I guess that explains the pointy star.” 

“Thanks for almost lodging that in my skull by the way.”

“You're dead. I think. Wouldn’t have hurt you anyway,” she sniffed.

“Might have cost him some life points though,” Leo piped in.

The three strained their necks to look above them, trying to see if they could locate where Leo’s voice was coming from. All they saw was endless blue sky.

“Leo! You did it! We’re here safely.”

“Yeah, this place isn’t so bad. Rad video game genius,” Rubin complimented.

Leo made no move to point out, again, that he hadn’t created this virtual world.

Jurek was busy sulking a bit over his own form, though he was tempted to point out that he hadn’t had such a safe journey so far. 

“Great, so, you’ve had a little time to adjust to your environment. Let’s not forget we have a mission though. Scour the area and see if you can find Nicole.” 

“Can’t pinpoint her on that map of yours, oh magic wizard?” Rubin sassed.

“I uh, haven’t had time to figure out all the functions just yet. This computer is a little outdated for my standards. I’ll have to give it a major overhaul once you’re all back on earth. Perhaps add a Bluetooth system so I’m not stuck to this computer via the headset cord.”

Naomi could almost imagine him fiddling and fighting with the cord right now, getting yanked back every time he tried to step away.

The trio let him continue to ramble about possible upgrades while splitting up to look for Nicole.

“Well, this is it. We took the big plunge.” 

Naomi looked over at Rubin, the two deciding to stick together having needed to escape Jurek and his endless bad mood. 

“Jurek almost took it for real. If we hadn’t been here, he might have taken the plunge straight on down into that-that digital sea looking thing.”

Rubin could sense her own mood’s deterioration and decided to leave her with one final thought before leaving all talk of Jurek behind.

“Don’t worry about him. He’s always been a sourpuss. I think his heightened edginess is just his worry for Nicole.”

“And he’s taking it out on us?”

“What’s a boy in love to do?”

“Oooh, that’s juicy gossip.”

He chuckled but wouldn’t let her fish for more.

“Enough about him. We’re in a virtual land! Let’s go see what we can find!”   
_____________________________________________________________

“Ah, finally. Coffee! It’s been such a long day without you!” As Odd lunged for the coffee machine in the break room, a figure stepped before him.

“Isn’t it a little late in the evening for your caffeine fix?” the person teased.

“Holy X.a.n.a! You scared me-...by the stars! Milly! Is that you?” 

The two embraced tightly, Odd practically squeezing the life out of the younger girl.

“Can’t believe we haven’t run into each other before now. We teach in the same hallway, majors of the arts and all,” Milly commented.

Odd chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.

“Yeah, been a little scatterbrained since we got here. Barely feel like I’ve settled in. Haven’t even seen Sissy yet.” 

“No? Sprain an ankle and you’ll have no choice but to go see her,” she teased.

“Heh. No, thank you. So, how have you been? Can’t believe we both ended up teachers here. You’re so young!”

“Young I may be, but I am an expert journalist! Sissy was kind enough to recommend me to run Kadic’s new journalism course. When Tamiya and I started out trying to launch the Kadic news we had to do all that work ourselves. Now, I'm in a position to help young, interested, aspiring journalists get their feet off the ground.”

“Thought you always imagined yourself a big time journalist.”

“True, this isn’t where I imagined myself 10 years ago but I wouldn’t ask for anything more. This, this is definitely where I belong.” 

Odd smiled, glad to see that he, Sissy, and Milly could find themselves, their callings, here of all places. Here, where it felt like it all began. Who knew any of three would end up coming back? 

“We should get together sometime. The three of us. For coffee, ya know, at an perfectly acceptable hour to be drinking said beverage.” 

She laughed.

“Definitely. I have Sissy’s number but here, take mine.”

After exchanging contacts, Milly continued out of the break room and Odd continued on his path towards black gold. Just because it was late didn’t mean he wouldn’t take advantage. He already had so many art projects to grade in his future and it'd only been 3 days!  
___________________________________________________________

“No sign of her yet. Didn’t you say you figured there were four sectors? How do we know she’s still in this one?” Rubin wondered after 20 minutes of aimless wandering. They’d been running around, discovering their agility, which was apparently quite flexible as they’d been flipping and darting around but had yet to tire. Still, the constant searching was beginning to wear on their nerves. They were in a strange land with no sign of their target and no plan on how and when to go home.  


Nothing exciting has happened so far. Not like in a real video game. No quest, nothing to fight, not even a clue to where their damsel could be. He was starting to understand why his avatar materialized itself as a knight. Quests, adventures, and a damsel to rescue! It was everything his dramatic, artsy self could ever dream of!

“I’ve been trying to understand this map and where your locations are based off relative distance from the locked point I virtualized you to. I think I’ve figured out what pinpoints your location and I think I’m even closer to locking on to hers.”

They nodded, deciding it would be wiser to sit around for a minute and let him guide them to her rather than running around, wasting their boundless energy. 

“How late is it getting? I don’t want to look like a zombie on my third day of school.” 

One day to adjust to the campus, two days of school so far, and sooner than later she’d have spent a whole week here. She didn’t think she’d have lasted, being so far from home and the people she _thought_ were her friends, but the company she was keeping wasn't so bad. Who’d have thought that nearly four days into her new adventure with her uncle she’d wind up here, on an even crazier adventure!

Of course, that’s when it hit her. Her uncle. Lyoko. Her uncle’s old tales about a mythical place known as Lyoko!

“Oh! Oh my god!”

“What?” Rubin looked up startled.

“Er-nothing. Sorry, lost in thought.” 

She’d had so much to process since discovering the factory with Rubin that she hadn’t even realized she knew Lyoko. It almost felt like she knew the place personally. Odd had told such vivid stories, rich with details, that she could almost imagine herself there. Now, she was there!

It had to be the same place. He used to go to school at Kadic. The factory wasn’t that far off school grounds if you knew where to look. Could her uncle have actually been a former visitor to Lyoko? Dumb question. Of course he’d been there. She was looking straight at the forest sector he’d described as if it materialized itself straight from his story. His stories that held truth apparently.

“Does that mean the north pole might be real?” she mumbled to herself.

Worse yet, his stories told of an evil entity named X.A.N.A that wanted to take over their planet and rid the world of humans. He described fighting for his life everyday to save the earth, a thankless job, and how X.A.N.A would often launch attacks against them personally to get them out of its way. The story had a happy ending though. They’d gotten rid of X.A.N.A.

Hadn’t they?

She looked around warily, hoping that reawakening this place hadn’t brought something more sinister upon them. For all intents and purposes, Lyoko should be free. It should be a fun, innocent place to visit, to run around, to experiment with their powers, to live even. 

That didn’t stop her from feeling worried about the possible consequences for being here. Her uncle used to have to fight monsters on Lyoko. What’s to say they wouldn’t come across some? Rubin might love it, having something to fight, but it left her apprehensive. Also, a little annoyed because Rubin might have been right about evil foe's and minions when warning them against coming to Lyoko.

“Do you want to spar?” Rubin’s voice startled her and though she would never admit to shrieking, she couldn’t deny she let loose another throwing star. Where were those coming from?

Rubin shrieked a little too while ducking from her sudden attack. 

“What?” she asked a little breathlessly.

  
“Spar. With me. Might come in handy so you don’t end up striking us with those pointy objects-er-shuriken like you just tried to do. Let’s see what we can do while we wait for Leo.”

According to her uncle’s stories, each of his friends had abilities on Lyoko.

They’d needed to harness and use them to fight off X.A.N.A or earth would have been history. Perhaps some training would do them some good. Just in case. 

“Ok, uh, how do we start.”

“I dunno. Try something.”

“Okay,” she looked at herself, wondering what to try. Maybe she should figure out where those throwing stars were coming from. They seemed to appear whenever she threw out her hands.

“Wonder why I’m dressed up like a ninja anyway,” she uttered under her breath, not expecting a response.

She hadn’t been asking anyone in particular but Leo decided to throw his two cents in anyway. 

“Maybe the computer just reads into your own subconscious desires and projects them onto your digital incarnations.” 

“I don’t dream about freaky leather-clad ninjas!”

Again, she’d thrown her hands out, and from between her pointer and middle fingers a throwing star had appeared. It hasn't launched itself yet so she took a moment to analyze it. 

“I think you just summon those from thin air,” Rubin noted in surprise.

“Wicked.” Ok, so left hand, throwing star. Her right hand however had retrieved something different from hidden pouches on her belt. 

“A flechette,” Rubin offered as a way of explanation. When she looked at him quizzically he smiled sheepishly in return, “I watch a lot of ninja movies. Wonder how wide of an arsenal range you’ll have.”

Where was the gamers guide when you needed it? This would be so much easier if it was a D&D quest with a guide on abilities and such. And a DM who knew what he was doing.

“No better time to find out.”   
\-------------------XXX----------------

Jurek wandered the forest looking around worriedly, left to right, head whipping so fast he was beginning to dizzy. It didn’t help that the more he began to fret the less he had control on his physical form. A ghost? Really? Ok, so he was pasty but what kind of cruel prank was this? He didn’t want to buy into Rubin’s ridiculous theory that Leo had created this world and was toying with them but…  


No, no, that idea was simply ludicrous and Rubin was an idiot. Not that he’d ever actually gotten to know the boy well enough to know that…  


He shook his head. Now was not the time to be focused on Arubia’s kid brother. Nicole needed him. Where was she hiding? It’d been so easy to communicate with her before but now she wasn’t responding to Leo’s calls.   


He was beginning to worry. No sign of her on Naomi or Rubin’s end of things and no sign of her here. Had something happened in the time it took them to come up with a solid game plan?   


“Nico, if this is a joke it’s an extremely lame one. We came all the way here to bail you out, don’t tell me I had to team up with the wonder twins for nothing.”   


Still, if she was playing hide and go seek, there was no indication of where she was hiding to give Jurek even the slightest clue as to her whereabouts. 

“Nikki, seriously. Please come out. We can’t-we can’t search forever. We’ll have to leave soon and then what will we tell your parents?”

Nothing, he supposed. It wasn’t as if they’d informed her parents they were going on a search and rescue. So they wouldn’t exactly be sitting by the fire waiting for a sign of her return. Well, they might be, but not for a rescue from this ragtag crew. 

Jurek glanced down at his hands and watched the white material of the gloves stretch over his knuckles as he clenched them in frustration. 

“Nicole!” he yelled into the open air. 

All he heard for miles was the sound of his echo travelling in the direction he was facing.   
\------------------XXX--------------  
Leo frowned as he squinted at the screen in front of him. Now that he could recognize the other’s signatures he was able to pinpoint what he figured to be an anomaly. Something not far from Naomi and Rubin’s position appeared to be giving off a massive amount of energy. It looked almost, spherical?   


What the hell was that thing?


	4. Chapter 3: Guardians

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii was totally not so stressed out by adulting that I had no motivation to update this. Nope. Not at all. No motivation? I don't know her.  
> In other news, Netflix putting Code Lyoko back on it's platform was instrumental in the making of putting me back on track. So for those of you who wanted more *sobs happily* I thank you for still being here! <3
> 
> Disclaimer: I am sadly not the owner of this beautiful property known as Code Lyoko but the OC's are all mine. Some, since 2006. Lookit that, I'm bringing them to life muwhahaha. But yeah I don't own the show and no profit comes of writing this fanfiction

Naomi and Rubin crept forward stealthily, weary of Leo’s warning once he noted a strange spherical blip on screen. He’d said they were steadily approaching the sphere but to be cautious because it appeared almost...alive. Rubin shook his head. He knew better than to assume there’d be no life on this virtual plane. Why else would it exist? He knew he was right, he knew it!

“You have a grasp on your weapons repertoire in case we need to defend ourselves?” he questioned his companion.

“Do you?” she asked sarcastically, “afterall, I seem to recall that weapon on your back being a giant paint brush and  _ not  _ a sword.” 

Fair point. He had no idea what he was supposed to do with the brush or what other hidden skills he might possess. This would be one big guessing game. Hopefully they’d get out of it all limbs intact. 

“Guess you can use that shield to defend us oh brave knight,” she drawled.

As they trotted towards the anomaly he eyed up the shield on his right arm. It was light enough to carry but looked sturdy enough to defend him. Now if only he could figure what else he could do. 

“I don’t like this,” he uttered, “Feels like we’re walking into a trap.” 

“A trap? Who’s trapping us?”

“That’s what I’m afraid to find out.” 

And then...they saw it.

A glowing, pulsing red and orange sphere weaved with electric veins. 

“What, is that?” Rubin pointed in shock, head bobbing along with his flailing finger. His mouth was dropping but snapped shut as Naomi raced forward.

“I think-I think someone's in there,” she crouched, squinting to get a better look. 

“What??” Rubin yelled, racing forward to stand by her. His eyes roamed the area, watching for...what...he didn’t know. Finally, his eyes trailed to the sphere and he blinked at the vague person shaped figure within. 

“T-That’s Nicole!” he gaped. 

“What!”

“Ok, we have got to expand our vocabularies.”

“Not the time Rue. How are we gonna get her out of there?”

“Well, uh…” he swung his arm forward, banging his shield against the sphere thingie. It groaned and then pulsed blasting both kids back a few feet. 

“Uhhh,” Naomi coughed, rolling from her back onto her stomach, “Pain. We can feel pain. Noted.” 

Rubin coughed, shaking off the pain as he stumbled to his hands and knees and then his feet. 

“Oops?”

Naomi shot him a soft glare. 

“What’s going on down there? You both lost a few life points just now. Is it hostile?”

“Not sure,” Naomi answered.

“Life points? Are we living in a simulation?” Rubin wondered curiously.

“Not sure we want to find out what happens if you lose them all,” Leo answered.

“Right,” they both answered.

“Uh Leo. Whatever this thing is, it has Nicole trapped inside,” Rubin revealed.

A soft curse from above had them eyeing each other in surprise. 

“So...what should we do?” Naomi questioned, continuing to stare down the sphere with Rubin by her side. 

Neither boy had any answer for her. Naomi ran her hand through her hair. A rescue mission into a virtual land was one thing but this? Ok wait, there was no way she was justifying any of this as normal or sane.

“We need a plan,” she turned to Rubin, “we came in here with a half assed plan, completely unaware of the consequences and now...now we’re stuck with this,” she gestured wildly to the sphere.

“Not as stuck as she is,” Rubin added unhelpfully. 

He shrunk under her glare. 

“Leo! Get Jurek over here now! We’re going to need his help.”

“What can he do that we can’t,” Rubin asked bitterly. Naomi rolled her eyes. There was no time to deal with their bad blood when a girl’s life was in danger.

“Oh I dunno, maybe phase her out of there. He’s a ghost. He’s gotta be able to just...go through it.” 

“Jurek doesn’t know how to control that any better than you can avoid taking an eye out with your pointy stars,” Rubin quipped.

“And what do you know how to do? You haven’t figured out one damn power yet!”

“Oh, whoa, ok, I’ll show you what I can do!” he whipped out the brush and started to wave it around to see what it could do. 

“Hey, watch it!” 

While they continued to bicker, Leo was typing frantically, trying to contact Jurek while also figuring out what the hell this anomaly was. He took a break to flip through the book he’d found hoping something in there would have an answer to what he was dealing with. This could not be any more of a disaster. 

“When this is over, I’m having this scanned in,” he muttered to himself. 

“What was that?”

“Oh! Jurek! Good. We’re having a bit of a situation.”

From his position deep within the trees, Jurek craned his neck back and sighed towards the sky. He wanted to go home, he wanted to pass out, and he wanted an engine to tear apart and restore. It had been stressful since Nicole’s disappearance. All the pressure was on them, the suspicion too, and her parent’s? They were devastated to think the two boys who their daughter had grown up with might have done this to her. Well, no, they were devastated to think Leo could have had a hand in her disappearance. He had a feeling they suspected him all along.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d gotten good sleep. He just needed this to be over. He needed Nicole back home. Safe.

“What have we got?”

“You’re not going to like it. I’m going to guide you to Naomi and Rubin. They need your help.

XXXXX

Odd startled a little at the sound of a knock on his door. He tossed his 3DS aside not really caring if he was caught playing video games. It’s not like the teachers here didn’t know exactly who they were dealing with. People could change but no one changed that much. 

He beamed at the figure on the other side of the door. 

“Sissy! Ah, I’ve been meaning to track you down.”

“It’s been a couple days since your arrival,” she stated pointedly, “I was starting to worry you were avoiding me. After I got you this job,” she grit out though Odd could hear the light teasing behind her words.

He simply widened his grin. 

Sissy sighed before wrapping him up in a hug.

“Actually, I was busy making sure my niece settled in. She’s been having a bit of a...hard time lately. Sending her here was her mother’s way of making sure she avoided doing  _ hard time _ ,” he joked. 

“That bad huh?” Sissy questioned in surprise.

“Ehhhh,” was Odd’s vague answer. 

Rather than comment on his odd behavior, though she mentally snickered at her bad joke, she pushed into his room and sat at his desk chair. 

“It’s weird being back here, surrounded by familiar faces,” she commented, “I even ran into Milly the other day. She must have just started here as well.”

Odd plopped back down on his bed and nodded along to Sissy’s statement. 

“Yeah, I saw her too. It’s almost like old times except for the lack of hostility between us and the age differences don’t matter all that much anymore.”

“I’d say technology has certainly improved as well,” she snarked, eyeing his discarded 3DS. 

He shrugged. “I would have brought the PS4 if I thought I’d be able to get any work done.”

Sissy rolled her eyes. 

“So, where’s your niece now?”

“Asleep I hope. It is rather late,” he glanced at the clock on his desk noting it approaching lights out, “not sure I can be caught having the nurse sneaking in and out of my room. Can you imagine the gossip in the break room,” he dramatically fainted. 

Sissy shot him a sly glance. 

“I do believe you’re not my type.”

“Nor you I,” they smiled bashfully at one another, sharing a private understanding behind the implications of their words. 

“Well I should get out of your hair for the night then but do bring your niece around. You know we have to do that whole ‘exchanging of embarrassing stories’ thing.” 

Odd playfully glared and Sissy darted out the door after dodging his swat. 

XXXXX

Naomi, Jurek, and Rubin stared dumbly at the sphere as it continued to pulse but refused to relinquish their friend. 

Leo was still frantically combing through his guide, trying to understand what they were up against. He hadn’t yet found a specific entry on the sphere but he didn’t like what he  _ was  _ seeing. 

“I feel so useless. If I could just get these powers to work right,” Jurek held up his hands and glared at them, trying to will them intangible. 

Rubin wasn’t having any more luck than the other boys, still unsure of what powers he possessed. Even Naomi’s knives couldn’t cut through the sphere. Any physical actions against it caused it to react negatively and more life points had been lost. 

“How could things have changed so drastically since we last spoke,” Jurek sighed, speaking more to Nicole and the sphere than his companions. 

Naomi wanted to lay a comforting hand on his shoulder but last time she tried her hand ended up in his sternum. Not that he’d noticed she’d fallen straight through his shoulder or anything. Plus, she didn’t think Jurek liked either of the younger much. She wondered if his hostile attitude would subside once his friend was safe; though, judging by Rubin’s attitude towards him it was unlikely. 

“Guardian.”

Naomi blinked before the three of them looked towards the sky as they were prone to do whenever Leo spoke. 

“What was that?” Jurek questioned. 

“It’s a guardian of some sort. It thinks it’s protecting her.”

“From what?” Though he had asked the question Rubin wasn’t sure he wanted the answer. 

“Not sure but the documented solution to rescuing Nicole is to trick it.”

Naomi could hear the frustration in Leo’s voice. He’d found a solution but clearly none of them knew how to pull that off. 

“Trick it. Great. Looks like ghosting through it is our only gameplay,” Rubin looked towards Jurek pointedly. 

Jurek grit his teeth. 

“I’m trying. Why don’t you make yourself useful and guard the perimeter oh great Knight.”

“From what? More guardians?” Rubin sassed, “wait, you don’t think there’s more do you?”

“How am I supposed to know?”

That’s when Leo cut in. He and Naomi were taking turns refereeing their spats. 

“I’ve deduced that if there is another threat on Lyoko it won’t be the guardian you have to worry about.”

“Okay,” Naomi drawled, “what does that mean? Are we in danger here?” 

She’d always been stubborn, it’s how she got into the messes that worried her mother grey, but she really wished she had listened to Rubin when he was spewing out crazy conspiracies about Lyoko. When she was younger she had hung on every word her uncle said about Lyoko like it was a new age fairy tale. As she got older, and decidedly more rebellious, she’d brushed Lyoko aside and began to reject her uncle’s beliefs of the mystical place. The less she thought about it the less details she could recall as the memories began to fade. Now she struggled to remember anything that might be useful. Had he ever mentioned coming up against a guardian? If so, how had they managed to trick it? What other surprises might Lyoko be holding? She vaguely remembered a dangerous element to her uncle’s stories, that they faced risks every time they ventured into Lyoko. She was still a little fuzzy on what those risks were. He always referred to them as monsters, with varying names and descriptors, but she wouldn’t know what to look out for if she tried. 

Her uncle’s stories were nothing more than an action fable to her and she thought him a superhero, possibly even like a cop who might have been shadowing the true evils of the world under the guise of monsters, but never had she thought to put actual stock into his stories. She was mature now. How could Lyoko possibly be real and what were the chances she’d stumble upon it? 

She wished he was here for reference. Why try and pull a rescue mission and not include your one true source of information? The only one who knew anything about anything involving Lyoko. 

“If you see anything vaguely monster shaped I’d say run in the other direction.” 

“Monsters,” Rubin gasped while Jurek shot a look of disbelief towards the sky, “are we actually living out a videogame right now? Like, for real, is this happening?”

“Try not to sound so thrilled,” Jurek said dryly. 

Naomi ignored them in favor of plundering deeper into her memories. Ok so the monsters were real and her uncle had made a mention of all different types. Some stole more life points than others and one that apparently resembled a giant bowling ball could knock you out flat with one hit. If this guardian had appeared to protect Nicole while she wandered Lyoko all alone then they might really need to stay on their toes. 

“What kind of monsters?” The enthusiasm in Rubin’s voice had not faltered despite what Jurek had said. 

“Documented we have: Krabs, Kankerlots, Hornets, Mega Tanks, Tarantulas-,”

“Alright, I think we’ve heard enough. If that list goes on any longer I might have an aneurysm,” Jurek was already rubbing tiredly at his forehead. 

Naomi grimaced at the look on Rubin’s face. ‘Here we go again.’

“What are you so worried about? You’re already dead,” Rubin snarked. 

Jurek whirled around on his heel so fast Naomi thought she had actually seen his head spin. He was a ghost after all. Holy ghost, had she actually seen that happen? 

The effect of his domineering posture was ruined when he stumbled because the very heel he’d turned on sank through the ground. His face quickly morphed from irritation to panic. 

“Jurek,” she yelled out, “concentrate!” 

\-----XXXXX-------

Hmm. More strange beings. Perhaps they could provide its connection to the world. How it longed to be free of this empty virtual land. How it thirst for more. For more than the trees and the ice, the mountains and the desert. For more than these monster companions. 

It simply wanted to pull the information from the mind of that being but the blasted guardian had intercepted Uncle Skippy. It would just have to pry the information from these other beings while the guardian was distracted with the first one. The guardian couldn’t protect them all.

\-----XXXXX-----

“We’re getting nowhere,” Naomi sighed, “Jurek keeps falling through the floor and none of us have any understanding of our powers.”

“Well we better learn quickly.”

Naomi leveled Rubin with a look at the quiver in his voice.

He was looking past her and Jurek so she spun on her heel to see…

“Ah Jeez.” 

“Roach!” Rubin yelled, wildly waving his brush back and forth, sweeping at the bug like creatures. Jurek barely dodged a blow from the oversized drawing tool. 

The bugs started shooting lasers at the trio and yeowch did they hurt. 

“Hey, your life points are dropping fast!” Leo warned.

“We’re under attack!” Naomi yelled, “Do something Leo!” 

She rolled, barely dodging another barrage of lasers and then flung her hand out at the nearest roach. Her weapon kimmed past the eye on its bulbous forehead (really all it was, was a head huh?) but the bug kept advancing. 

Jurek was barely avoiding hits himself, his intangibility working in spurts. It was a curse and a blessing. While he managed to avoid laser fire he also sunk further and further through the forest floor each time. 

“I can’t avoid these lasers like this forever,” he yelled, “We need a new strategy!” 

“Wasn’t Leo’s plan run?” Rubin was attempting to maintain his cool but he’d never actually fought virtual entities before. There was no risk involved when your avatar sought battle. Now he was the avatar! As cool as that was it was also incredibly terrifying. 

“Scrap that plan, Jurek’s waist deep in the floor and no we cannot abandon him,” Naomi yelled, having already anticipated Rubin’s possible retort. Jurek still glared his way despite Rubin never voicing it aloud. 

Rubin swung the brush watching it bash one bug to pieces before swinging at another and sweeping it clear off the edge of the sector. Then he swung his shield arm in front of himself to propel the upcoming laser fire. He rushed the nearest bug, shield held firmly in front and let his other arm fly bashing in more heads. Now this was the adrenaline rush he needed!

“Aughh!” he whirled at the sound of the pained scream, watching in horror as Jurek de-pixelated before the remaining outline of his avatar faded away.

“No,” Naomi screamed in horror, remaining distracted enough to miss the encroaching roach.

“Omi!” Rubin yelled after her, throwing his shield at the monster. It deflected the blast but left him defenseless. Two more hits from surrounding monsters and he watched in horror as his avatar began to delete. 

“No, no, no,” he whispered, panicking before freezing up. 

Next thing he knew he was falling out of the scanner, panting wildly. Steam had erupted around him and he gripped his chest tightly hoping to catch air. Surveying his surroundings he found Jurek in the adjacent scanner not faring much better.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when the other scanner whirled and popped open dropping Naomi from its grasp. She slumped, scream still caught in her throat and body shuddering. 

A moment of silence passed.

“Did we...just lose?” 

\-----XXXXX-----

They regrouped around Leo and the supercomputer, standing in solemn silence. They couldn’t figure out what to say. They’d failed. Failed each other and most importantly, Nicole.

Leo sat in the chair, fingers tightly gripping the knees of his pants, teeth grit in frustration. He would not shed tears here.

Jurek lay a hand on his shoulder.

“We’ll get her back.”

“How?” Leo spat, “Nothing, nothing went as planned. We have no idea what we’re doing! If those monsters attack again you’ll be helpless! I’ll be helpless! What makes you think a return trip will turn out any better than today?”

“If that thing is truly a guardian like you say then it won’t hurt her. She’ll be safe until we can figure things out,” Jurek let out a deep sigh before turning to the other two, “as a team.”

Rubin’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

“Really, you? A team player?” 

Jurek heaved another sigh before looking up from where he was standing pointedly at his feet. 

“I know I’m not the most approachable-,”

“Tch.” Naomi covered her mouth quickly. Whoops. “Uh, sorry, you were saying?” 

“But my friend is in danger. Our friend,” he gestured back to Leo, “is in danger. We don’t know how long the guardian will hold but we can’t let her remain a prisoner forever. We owe it to her and her family to free her. It’s obvious after today that I cannot do this alone. It’s also obvious that other...creatures...inhabit the planet. This is bigger than any one of us now. I really do need your help.” 

Naomi had a feeling they stepped in something far bigger than any of them ever expected to. This was absolutely bigger than any one of them. Leo was right too. They had no idea what they were doing. They were going to need help. And there was only one person she could think to ask.

But oh was he going to be _ insufferable  _ when she had to admit Lyoko was a real place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have big plans ya'll. Big plans. I am stupid determined to see them through, Corona willing. Stay safe!


	5. Chapter 4: Teamwork

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teamwork makes the dreamwork

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back, back again.  
> Work is stressful but ya know what, it's valentines day, so suck it work.  
> Did I expect the chapter to come out this way? No, these things write themselves. But I'm pretty proud of this one.

“So, this referenced manual,” Leo waved the book of journaling's, “has a substantial amount of information coded on Lyoko which someone has uploaded onto the supercomputer. Luckily most of it is decoded but it’s still going to take me time to read through it all.” 

“What have you gathered so far?” Naomi wondered. She wanted an accurate account of what Leo knew for when she finally decided to bring Odd in. 

“I happened to find picture references for the monsters you faced. You only faced one of the horrors Lyoko can produce. Unfortunately, there are more.” 

“You mentioned,” Jurek drawled. 

Leo simply sighed and then brought the monsters up so the warriors could familiarize themselves with their adversaries. 

“Kankerlots. These are the-,”

“Horrifying little cockroaches who shoot lasers. Yeah, I'll never fear the flying roaches again,” Rubin laughed a little hysterically.

Naomi shuddered. Yeah no, roaches are just a no. Flying, lasers, flying and lasers? God she hoped not. 

“Krabs, Hornets, Mega Tanks, Tarantulas, Creepers, Mantas, and this is the sychipizoa,” Leo named the monsters as their pictures flashed across their screen. 

“You make that last one sound like it’s a special kind of monster. What’s it do?” 

Leo looked pointedly at Jurek. 

“Apparently our AI opponent here saves this monster for special fact finding missions. It steals memories. It can also steal DNA codes necessary for your return to earth so my advice? Avoid its tentacles at all costs.” 

“And our special friend hellbent on destroying the earth?” 

“X.A.N.A.”

Leo sighed. 

“That’s not all. There’s one more monster, requires an incremental amount of power to activate, and lords help us that never happens. We wouldn’t stand a chance. The old team never found a sure fire way to defeat it on their own.”

“What monster?”

“Old team?” 

“It stands to reason there was an old team though no members were ever mentioned by name. There’s locked profile cards on here, similar to yours, but I haven’t been able to uncover anyone’s identity as of yet.”

Naomi breathed a sigh of relief at that. She’d rather she had a chance to come clean to the team before they found out her uncle knew of Lyoko.

“How do you figure?” Jurek wondered.

“Well, I do have one name. Franz Hopper. Appears he’s the creator of Lyoko though for what purpose I have yet to determine. These are his journal entries,” Leo waved the book around again, “However these,” he gestured towards the computer, “are his decoded entries alongside another’s. You can tell due to their different coding signatures. As the second coder learned more about Lyoko he added his own analysis. A more thorough understanding of this virtual land. I imagine it’s where the picture references came from as well.”

Oh Naomi recognized those picture references all right. She’d know Odd’s style anywhere despite it having improved over the years since his absence from the factory. 

As she studied the drawings she failed to realize another scrutinizing them as well. Rubin’s eyes narrowed as something tickled the back of his mind. He shook it off, tuning back into Leo as he and Jurek attempted to formulate a new plan based on their newly gathered intel and personal, horrifying, near death experience.

Also, was anyone ever planning on discussing that terrifying sounding boss level monster Leo mentioned and then failed to expand on??

XXX-----------XXX

Odd had this strange feeling in his gut, a creeping sense of oncoming deja vu. It was really weird to be on the teacher’s side of it. He watched discreetly as his niece, Rubin, Leo who was a student of his, and another boy ran from the cover of the trees and integrated themselves back into the normal foot traffic of the other mingling students. 

Now why was a sight like that freakishly familiar? 

From this distance he could vaguely note the deep bags lining his nieces eyes. Where had they been all night? The scene looked incredibly familiar but they couldn’t possibly have been...no, there was no way. They’d shut down the supercomputer for good. X.A.N.A’s rein was over. 

Still, there was a nagging feeling tugging on his heart, creeping around his brain, and rolling his stomach. For a moment he felt if he were an actual cat his fur would be visibly ruffled, tail lashing in agitation. 

He tried shaking off the feeling and decided he should investigate his niece's new friends. Nothing like embarrassing family to help bring back a sense of normalcy. 

Instead of normalcy, his stomach rolled as she shot him a wide eyed panicked look when they locked eyes. What the hell was going on?

XXXX---------XXXX

Naomi groaned as she hoisted herself up out of the sewer drain. If Lyoko was a virtual world and they were only avatars why did her whole body ache? Each of them walked heavy with exhaustion and even heavier with guilt over their failure. She rubbed her shoulder, trying to roll out the stiffness that was attempting to set in as she stood and waited for the boys. 

What were they to do now? She knew what she needed to do. But how was she to do it? How could she explain to her uncle that someone had reawakened Lyoko and its monsters? That the very evil he fought to defeat over the course of his schooling might be back with a vengeance? 

“I cannot believe we spent the whole night on Lyoko. Time flies when you’re virtual I guess,” Rubin yawned as he stretched out his muscles then began to crack his neck.

Naomi shuddered at the noise.

“There even time on Lyoko? Or night?”

“Not sure, it didn’t feel like we spent hours upon hours on a virtual plane but apparently we did. School is going to suck today,” he groaned, dragging his hands down his face.

If only school was the biggest worry on her mind. Leo had no new plans on how to proceed so for now they’d have to go their separate ways. Neither of the other boys looked in the mood to talk, down and out about their failure to save their friend. Naomi wished she had more encouraging words for them. She didn’t know Nicole as well but it still weighed on her. She and Rubin came into this trying to offer their help but their presence clearly didn’t affect anything. If anything it had only given the other two boys false hope.

How were any of them to know they’d encounter those...those monsters? Hopefully they wouldn’t cut Naomi and Rubin out. Now that she was a part of this she couldn’t just sit idly by. Even if Jurek wanted nothing to do with them. Which he had expressed. Vehemently. Before they’d left the factory. He was so wishy-washy. One minute he wants their help, the next he’s treating them like they’re annoying kids again.

She understood his frustrations but taking it out on them wasn’t going to help Nicole. Why couldn’t he understand that they needed to work together? Especially now that there was an unseen enemy out there? 

“K bye,” Rubin muttered under his breath as the other two stalked off, muttering quietly to themselves. 

She exchanged a look with him before they raced after the quickly retreating duo. They tried to act like they hadn’t been wandering around in the forest and began to make their way to the cafeteria for some much needed energy boosters. She hardly noticed as Leo and Jurek split off from them again because she caught her uncle approaching them from the corner of her eye. She was trying for a casual look but judging by the furrow of his brows she wasn’t all too successful. 

“Everything ok?” 

She wanted to spill everything. Word vomit her woes and beg for his help. That’s what adults are for right? There to care for kids when they needed them, protect them, help them feel safe? But she didn’t know how to explain the past couple of days. She didn’t know if she could betray Leo and Jurek’s trust like that. Not yet. Was it ok to say anything in front of Rubin? Could she tell her uncle that she knew without a shadow of a doubt that Lyoko was real now? 

Instead of saying anything she smiled through the pain. 

“It’s been a long night,” Rubin explained. 

Odd scrutinized the teens before him but didn’t press. He wanted them to feel comfortable coming to him. Forcing it out of them wouldn’t make him a reliable confidant. Plus, he was trying to be the cool young adult fun uncle here. He wasn’t a parent yet so no need to parent...yet. That’s what her mother was for. 

“Breakfast?” he offered instead. 

They lit up over that and he wrapped an arm around each of them and led them towards the food. 

XXXX-------XXXX

It was during Odd’s class that Leo approached them again. 

“I think I’ve worked up how to go about our second tactical strike.” 

“Oh, we’re still a part of this team?” Naomi asked as she idly doodled in her sketchbook. She was a better writer than an artist no matter what strategies Odd tried to teach her. She did not inherit his abilities much to his chagrin. 

Leo sighed. 

“Look, Jurek is just-”

“An ass?” Rubin cut in. 

That caused Naomi and Leo to sigh. They might consider themselves teammates but getting them to actually act on it was another story. 

“Perhaps a team bonding exercise first?” she proposed, “Or maybe someone can explain to me the underlying tension between Rubin and Jurek. I’m tired of being on the outside of whatever this is. If we’re going to be a team we have to lay everything on the table. No secrets.”

She swallowed roughly knowing how hypocritical that was coming from her. She was withholding valuable intel on Lyoko; that she knew someone who would be able to navigate the virtual plane and its secrets, effortlessly. 

Despite the heavy layering of guilt she felt she held Leo’s gaze. Rubin seemed reluctant to share his story and she wouldn’t even bother asking Jurek which left Leo to spill the beans. Rubin was eyeing him warily as well. In hindsight, his beef with Jurek seemed trivial. He’d never done anything to attract the other boys ire. Still, Jurek had judged him off their first meeting, took one look at his paint splattered jeans, and turned his nose up at Rubin. Since then, Leo and Nicole had followed his lead not wanting to side with Rubin against their childhood friend. Arubia tried everything she could to bridge the gap but even her optimism couldn’t fix this. Her friends painted him as the annoying kid brother and she took up their mantra. 

They were still close but he rarely spent time around her when she was with her friends. Which was all the time seeing as they were in a grade above him. At least now he had Naomi. She was the first person in a long time to avidly stick up for him. 

“I’ve never been able to discern Jurek’s dislike for Rubin. It stems from a place of, jealousy I presume, but of what I cannot fathom.” 

Rubin blinked. Jealous. Of him? What the-,

“Jealousy?” Naomi asked skeptically, “Isn’t Jurek some fancy rich kid? What does he have to be jealous of?” 

“Thinking the rich don’t have their own envy is a fairly naïve way of thinking.”

“Says someone who is also fairly wealthy. Tell me, how did three rich kids like yourselves come to slum it with my sister? Why Kadic? Why not one of the more prestigious institutes closer to your gated mansions?” 

Leo shrugged. 

“We wanted to be free.”

Naomi understood that in a sense. She was a free spirit herself but she took those liberties too far and almost ended up caged. She shuddered. What kind of life would that have been? 

“Yeah, well, the Guardian is doing a bang up job of respecting her wishes. Why don’t we get back on that topic instead of entertaining the idea that Jurek might actually be jealous of me. Me! Ha!” 

Before Leo could respond his laptop began to beep incessantly. He rushed to hush the noise while Naomi looked around warily to see if anyone bothered to notice. The only one looking their way was her uncle. He had a strange look in his eye. Critical, confused, but also slightly far away. 

“What’s happening?” Rubin asked as he looked over Leo’s shoulder. 

“I incorporated a program into my laptops systems that detects when towers activate on Lyoko. It was a forewarning system that allowed the previous team to discern when X.A.N.A was attacking and mount an appropriate defense.”

“Are you saying that an attack against earth is being launched right now?” 

Leo sucked his teeth.

“I’m afraid so. We’re going to have to deactivate the tower to save the earth or else this computer program gets what it wants. Total control.”

Naomi blinked. Defend the earth? How the hell were they supposed to do that? They barely had any grasp on their powers!

“I know what you’re thinking but we don’t have a choice. My friends and I started this, accidentally unleashing this evil back onto the world. I know it’s asking a lot of the two of you to help me correct this mistake but Jurek cannot do it alone. Please?” 

“Well how can I just sit idly by and watch everything I love crumble around me?” Rubin sighed.

“Oh, you’re certainly singing a different tune,” Naomi teased, “I remember when you wanted nothing to do with this.”

“That’s because ignorance is bliss. If I didn't know anything I couldn't stew in guilt by refusing to help. But I do know what’s going on. I do know that Nicole is in trouble. I do know that the world is in trouble. I do know...that I have to do something to help no matter the personal cost. C’mon, we’re wasting time. Probably shouldn’t wait around to see what the attack is when we can cut it off at the source,” he began packing his stuff before rushing to Odd’s desk. 

Leo messaged Jurek before following Rubin. Naomi watched after them, taking a second to breathe it all in. It looked like this Lyoko adventure was taking an all new, even more dangerous turn than they had anticipated. Helping a friend? Sure, no problem. Saving the world? Crazy. And Rubin wasn’t even mad at her for dragging him into this. Never had she expected that a chance to solve a mystery would turn into this. 

“What can I do for you?” Odd folded his hands on his desk and eyed the teens knowingly. 

“Bathroom, I-I’m just not-ooo my stomach,” Rubin folded in on himself as he groaned in pain.

Naomi was impressed. Guess he really was an actor. His pain sounded genuine. 

Before she or Leo could throw their own excuses into the ring Odd locked eyes with her.

“Perhaps you and Leo should take Mr. Wilson-Singh to the infirmary?” There was a lilt to his voice Naomi couldn’t quite place, almost as if he was providing them with a proper excuse, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it. 

“Well see that he gets there safely.” 

They each took an arm and led his curled up form out of the art room. 

Odd watched after their retreating forms, watching as Rubin all too quickly straightened up and the three rushed away. He stood and made his way to the window, peering out, waiting for them to appear. He watched as they met up with another student, the same boy from the other day, and rushed into the cover of the trees. The sight was achingly familiar. 

“Yeah...infirmary,” he whispered under his breath before returning to his desk to observe his remaining students. Once the bell rang he’d get to the bottom of this.

XXX-------XXX

“So we don’t even know what the attack here in the real world is?” Jurek questioned as they gathered around the supercomputer. 

“Well, no but-,”

“Then how do we know we’re being attacked at all. Perhaps the tower’s just powered up.” 

“What, you think the evil sentient program wants to have a nice chat and negotiate a peace treaty?” Naomi asked sarcastically. 

Leo bit his lip.

“Funny thing is, I think this tower has been powered up for a while.”

“What?” the three exclaimed. 

“I know it hasn’t been super obvious lately as we’ve come to understand our recent behaviors as normal but on occasion we’ve all noticed that we are acting-,”

“Out of sorts,” Rubin finished, “It’s not just that our adrenaline is pumping and we’re all tense about Nicole. Something else is going on.”

“Yes. Astute observation Rubin,” Leo praised.

“It’s what wallflowers do.” 

“I don’t think it’s changing our natures per se. I think it’s causing heightened emotions. Emotions we are trying to suppress in order not to cause a fallout amongst our peers but the more you suppress your emotions-,”

“The bigger the explosion.” This time it was Naomi who cut him off. She eyed Jurek warily. Whatever he was holding on to that had him flipping between trusting his allies or holding onto old grudges was the explosion she was most worried about.

If this “attack” was elevating their emotions then she didn’t have to worry about anger right now. It explained why her innate curiosity got her sucked into this mess though. On a normal day she wouldn’t have dreamed of searching for a missing girl in an abandoned factory where unseen dangers might lurk. Even still, she was fortunate her curiosity over the situation outweighed her riskier nature. By all accounts this was a far more subdued turn of events than what could have happened if some evil computer program had heightened her thrill for danger and she did something Odd couldn’t bail her out for. 

Though, this was a thrill seeking adventure and she kind of needed Odd to bail them all out of this situation but it wasn’t something that could be done lightly and would probably take time to accomplish....crap. Her uncle was going to kill her when she told him the truth. 

Still, she wasn’t in jail and that had to count for something. Her mother need not  _ ever _ know about this.

As for Rubin, while he sought the various thrills of playing video games, his fear of actually being a virtual hero was incredibly heightened. Leo had known Rubin for a long time and never had he seen him back down when it came to defending himself so why was there an unusual cowardice in his actions. Leo suspected it was holding Rubin back from his true potential. He would never be able to unlock his latent abilities on Lyoko if he couldn’t overcome his fears. If he couldn’t embrace his natural instincts to defend himself and others how could he have any hope of saving Nicole let alone the world? 

Jurek was aware that Leo had been acting odd. Never before had he thrown himself so recklessly into solving a problem. It’s what started this whole mess. If he hadn't pulled that lever and activated the supercomputer Nicole would still be here with them. Jurek wanted to be angry with his friend. He wanted to blame him for everything that’s gone wrong since Leo had decided to search the factory in the first place. But perhaps the blame wasn’t entirely on him. Perhaps something had drawn them all here. If this heightening of emotions thing was actually happening then Leo might not have been able to resist the pull of his curiosity and intellect which is why he turned the supercomputer on. Perhaps that’s what  _ It  _ wanted. Someone so curious they couldn’t resist freeing  _ it  _ from captivity. 

What mattered now was Leo was owning that mistake. Jurek couldn’t be angry with him because he was doing everything he could to fix his mistake. Jurek shouldn’t even be angry with the other two. He’s...hated Rubin for so long even he doesn’t remember why. Well that’s not true. He knows why. He’s just reluctant to admit it to himself. That he could be...that he could be jealous of a boy one year his junior. 

He was working on reversing that anger, that jealousy turned hate, but lately it had been so hard. Just when he’d thought he’d overcome it, it surged again, and again until he’d driven them away. Some of that had to be the effects of the tower. But some of it was his own doing and he needed to own up to that. If he didn’t want to cause a fallout so monumental he’d never be able to come back from it he had to be better. 

“So what do we do?” Rubin questioned.

Jurek locked eyes with him. 

“We should probably take a moment to reflect on what we’re feeling. Sometimes working through your emotions is the best way to overcome them. The only way we can come together as a team is if we can face ourselves first. We’re working out some issues, I know I have my fair share, but we cannot let those issues affect us in battle again. Next time we lose could be permanent.” 

“What about the tower?” Naomi wondered.

“If it’s been active for awhile then another day shouldn’t hurt. Unless we let our emotions lose control that is.” Leo responded. 

“Why was it only detected now?” Rubin questioned Leo.

“I’d only just finished setting that particular feature up. It’s a good thing we’re all aware of the issue now. We can work through it and come back stronger like Jurek said. Teamwork is the only way we win this. Talking, communicating how we’re feeling...is the only way we win this. No secrets,” he took a turn locking eyes with each of his teammates.

Naomi felt that uncomfortable tug in her stomach once more. She remained silent. It wasn’t time for that yet. 

“Guess we should try those team bonding exercises you mentioned,” Rubin gestured to her, “Might also be wise to practice using our powers. We’ll be more effective that way.” 

“Ooo, like a training montage?” 

He shot her a soft smile. 

Jurek nodded, “We should probably pick a location that houses neither the guardian or the tower. Then perhaps it wont provoke X.A.N.A into attacking us before we’re ready.” 

Leo turned to the computer, “The mountain sector appears clear of any monsters.” 

“Training? In the mountains? This gets more and more like a movie every second,” Naomi laughed. Rubin playfully bumped her shoulder, sharing an excited smile with her. Suddenly they were both bouncing with nervous, excited energy, “We’re going to need a way to burn off all this extra energy the tower is causing us to feel. Better get started.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And a yoouuge thanks to anyone who's still here. Thank you for sticking around my loyal faithfuls. Happy Valentine's Day ya'll!


End file.
